


Spiralled.: :*: : || A Marvel Fanfic||

by chocochip17



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Aromantic, Crushes, Deception, Dimension Travel, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fanfiction, Humor, Mind Manipulation, Romance, Spiralled, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22660849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocochip17/pseuds/chocochip17
Summary: **Freya Stratton, a 17 year-old introvert , wakes up for school as usual. Except it isn't really 'her' world. She soon realizes that she had landed up in the MCU when she bumps into Peter Parker in 'her' class. After coming to terms with her life being a literal question mark, she adjusts to her new 'home' . But things aren't as happy-go-lucky as it seems. Her spiralled reality was caused by the infamous God of Mischief himself- Loki.**Why?Read to find out :)**  .:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆
Relationships: Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s), Tom Hiddleston/Loki/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	1. -: ✧ :-

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**[Kindly read before || 𝟶 || ]**

.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・．

**_WARNING_ : Psychological Manipulation and Deception**

**{+ spoonful of humor(^-人-^) }**

**\- 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚜 :**

\- **𝑺𝒕𝒚𝒍𝒆1** is for any messages written or typed by any of the characters.

\- 𝕾𝖙𝖞𝖑𝖊 **_2_** is exclusive for Loki. ( alt. voice)

\- General font is for speech, narration and thoughts.

\- **𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚘𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎.**

-𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎.-

.・゜-: ✧ :- -: ✧ :-゜・．

* * *

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑺𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔. 

𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 :) 💗

* * *

 _ **Summary:**_ (yes, again)

Freya Stratton, a 17 year-old introvert , wakes up for school as usual. Except it isn't really ' _her_ ' world. She soon realizes that she had landed up in the MCU when she bumps into Peter Parker in ' _her_ ' class. After coming to terms with her life being a literal question mark, she adjusts to her new 'home' .

But things aren't as happy-go-lucky as it seems.

Her spiralled reality was caused by the infamous God of Mischief himself- _Loki_.

 _Why?_

  
Read to find out ｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆↘️


	2. ||:❀:||

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚 _,_

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 ‘𝒚𝒐𝒖’. 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆 ‘𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚’ 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖?

𝑷𝒍𝒖𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒄, 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌?

𝑰𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 ~~𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍~~ 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒈𝒐 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒆𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒕, 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.

𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒊𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 '𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆' 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 . 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆. 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚.

𝑬𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇. 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚.

𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 **6:30** 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕.

𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓.

𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉.

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 ' 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂! 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌.' -- 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕.

𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 **𝒏 𝒆 𝒕 𝒉 𝒆 𝒓** 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒔 '𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒎𝒂 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂' 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**𝑶𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅.**

𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐?

𝑷𝒖𝒃𝒊𝒄 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒓??

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅.

𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒅𝒐 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉. 

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍.

𝑶𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒚? 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒊𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑫𝑶 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕? 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 '𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈', 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑬𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 -- **𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒍** **𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒔.**

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 ( 𝒅𝒖𝒉) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍-- 𝑪𝒂𝒏'𝒕.

𝑨𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔. 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓. 𝑨 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒚. 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈?

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔. ⁽ᴼᵏ, ᴵ ᵃᶜᶜᵉᵖᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵃᶜᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵀʰᵃⁿᵒˢ ʰᵃᵈ ᵍᵒᵒᵈ ⁱⁿᵗᵉⁿᵗⁱᵒⁿˢ ᵃᵗ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗ, ᵇᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᵈᵒᵉˢⁿ'ᵗ ᶜʰᵃⁿᵍᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵃᶜᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʰⁱˢ ᵇᵃˡᵃⁿᶜᵉ ᵐᵉᵗʰᵒᵈ ʷᵃˢ ˢᵗᵘᵖⁱᵈ ᵃⁿᵈ ᴵ ᵐᵒᵘʳⁿᵉᵈ ᶠᵒʳ ᵗʰʳᵉᵉ ᵗʰᵒᵘˢᵃⁿᵈ ʰᵒᵘʳˢ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ᵗʰᵉ ᵐᵒᵛⁱᵉ.⁾

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒚𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅. 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 2-3 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒆?𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝑰 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏?

𝑶𝒉 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒖𝒕𝒆- 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 / 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈.

 **𝑵 𝒐 𝒊 𝒄 𝒆**.

𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅.

 _~_ ~~ᴳʳᵃⁿᵈᵐᵃ~~ ^ **𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂 **

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

* * *

* * *

_She kept her diary on the table next to her bed and took out a bottle of mild painkiller from bottom drawer._

_After_ _taking a pill with a glass of water, she massaged her scalp to relief herself from the persistent headache that had managed to last for the entire day._

"I want to knead my brain like pizza dough" _she murmured under her breath. " Die_ headache _die."_

_Freya tossed and turned in her bed for half an hour, before she could finally succumb to sleep. Luckily, her exhaustion caused her to not have any nightmares about her past unlike the other days. It was a much needed sleep for her after the three-hour-ordeal of math. Plus, it was the middle of the week and friday seemed like a lost friend to her. School, she had to attend the school tomorrow._

_It was almost midnight when she shuddered in her sleep._

_She reached out for her panda-printed blanket in a half asleep state and snuggled into it. It was night time, so a drop in temperature was nothing unusual to notice. However, she didn't realize that a tall figure was standing beside her bed._

_In silence, he glanced through the pages of her diary and stopped at her final entry. A mischievous smile graced his lips. He sat beside her sleeping form and leaned close to one of her ears and whispered--_

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

_"_ 𝖄𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖜𝖎𝖘𝖍 𝖎𝖘 𝖒𝖞 𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖉, 𝕸𝖎𝖑𝖆𝖉𝖞 _."_

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆ ..._ **


	3. |:| I |:|

" Wake up Froyo! It's already 7:15 for God's sake! "

"You know we don't have the luxury of the car anymore. Speaking of the car I will be at the garage tonight. For your dinner, I have kept a box of tuna salad in the fridge".

" **Now rise and shine princess"** _a familiar voice called out to her from the kitchen._

_Freya furiously rubbed her eyes to get rid of the morning drowsiness. She stepped out of her bed and headed straight for the bathroom to rush through her business._

_While tying her hair, she realized that her headache was gone for good._

_'_ I should have taken the pill sooner _,' she thought to herself as she went downstairs for breakfast._

_It was the beginning of another boring day in her life._

_She_ _munched on her half- burnt toast while zoning out from the conversation with her mum when the older female decided to give her the daily lecture of how important it is to have friends at her age. She nodded throughout the talk and hugged her before leaving for the school bus._

_She took out her earphones from the side pocket of her bag and listened to her favourite playlist throughout the bus ride. If she ever felt adventurous on a certain day, she would simultaneously try to solve a crossword puzzle on her phone until her motion sickness would kick in._

_The basic idea was for her to be as invisible as possible and conserve energy for the hectic school day ahead._

_It must have been quite effective as no teacher ever complained to her mother about any possible non- participation in class discussion on her part. She always had her answer ready even if it would not be the correct one all the time._

_She was just another regular kid after all._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

"Students please turn to page number 143".

"Today we are going to begin with chapter -Evolution. It is a is a well known phenomena, but we will study the various theories given by very important people like **Mr. Taylor here** ".

 **"Isn't that correct Mr. Taylor**?"

"Would you be kind enough to share your theory with the class? It seems kind of unfair to let only Mr. Lewis know about it, don't you agree?" _Mrs. Travis glared at the two boys sitting ahead of Freya._

_The redhead among the two was about to answer her back, but the blonde boy intervened._

_"_ He was just informing me about the page number, Mrs.Travis _"_

"I see, but I wonder how can you be helped by a person who himself does not even have the right book open? Or I suppose **Thermodynamics is the new Evolution**? Do not lie to me again Mr. Lewis. Otherwise you will be in detention in exchange of your soulmate," _she replied in a nonchalant manner before continuing with the lesson._

_This was the exact reason why Freya loved Mrs. Travis._

_Maybe not exactly 'love' love her, but she did appreciate the way she shut those two loudmouths with a snarky comment from time to time._

_For some reason they were being unusually bold that day._

_Everyday she wouldn't have to tolerate their mundane conversation ranging from tuition homework(10%) to social media (90%) for more than twenty minutes as Mrs. Travis would halt thier murmur with her death stare._

_Whatever the reason was for the new development, Freya brushed it off without a second thought and concentrated on the lesson._

_After all she was one of the model student in Mrs. Travis' class- her non-existent reputation was at stake._

_Nobody really cared for her after the incident._

_People were quick to change their opinion but none consoled her. They ignored her and so did she._

_Like a wise mind once said- 'Ignorance is bliss.'_

_Freya's line of thought about 'the dumb theory Lamarck had for Giraffes having long necks 'cause they tried to reach for leaves on tall trees' was interrupted when she heard a little knock on the class door._

_"_ I'm really sorry Mrs. Travis! I got stuck in a mini um-accident I'm alright though- I didn't-"

 _"_ Now, now Mr. Parker. This isn't the first time you have ever been late. Last time I clearly "

' **(⊙_⊙)** '

_Everything came to a standstill in her mind for the next whole minute._

' Peter Parker.'

' **Peter Benjamin Parker aka Spider-Man is late to Mrs. Travis' class'.**

' **Is this what being high feels like? Did I get high on the painkiller?'**

**' I knew it. I should have rechecked it's expiry--'**

" Now that you have a detention and you, how about taking a seat, Mr. Parker?"

" Only one seat is left, at the back next to Ms. Stratton. Considering how early you are, you are quite lucky to even get an empty seat".

**'?!'**

"Secondly, I want your report on Adaptive Radiation and Natural Selection on Thursday rather than next week. And that is precisely 22 hours from now."

**'?!?!'**

"You may ask for Ms. Stratton's help. Unlike you, others are not 'accident- prone' to be always late ."

**'??????!!!!!'**

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_Relaxation. **✧٩( ˊvˋ*)و✧**_

_In psychology, it is the emotional state of a living being, of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety or fear._

_This was exactly what Freya was **NOT** doing._

_She was already convinced that her mind was playing tricks on her. Therefore to settle her worries once and for all, she went to see the entrance sign of the school during the recess. Surely that could not fail her--_

* * *

* * *

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

𝕄𝕀𝔻𝕋𝕆𝕎ℕ ℍ𝕀𝔾ℍ 𝕊ℂℍ𝕆𝕆𝕃

ᴇꜱᴛᴀʙʟɪꜱʜᴇᴅ ¹⁹⁶²

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

* * *

* * *

' **Ok. I think I might be a little schizophrenic. No wait**.' 

' **Shouldn't I be the only one seeing the hallucination? Unless ofcourse, I'm still in bed and this is a lucid dream**.'

 _She proceeded to pinch herself only to feel it in an instant_.

' **NOPE, this is very real- and I think I've completely lost my marbles.'**

_She had barely managed to come to terms with her newfound case of insanity, when a wild Peter appeared in front of her._

" Hi- I'm Peter uh-- the guy who is forever late apparently. Actually- it's not that often-- I think. You must have seen that I'm a regular in chem lab-- or not. I'm not that popular to be noticed -- I'm not sounding like a douche to you, am I ? "

" **Yes?** "

" **I am?!** I didn't mean to- "

" **I mean NO! OFCOURSE NOT! I just zoned out for a second. I am sure you are a lovely person!"**

"Um- that's really sweet of you, Freya. Thanks. I don't want to sound self serving, but I don't know how else am I going to ask you this . I-uh--"

"Just give a brief introduction about both the topics. State the definitions with examples. Elaborate on Darwin's finches and Australian marsupials in case of Adaptive Radiation. There is nothing specific for Natural Selection. You can write about Industrial melanism or the development of antibiotic-resistant microbes etc for it. Add appropriate pictures and flowcharts for your explanation. Oh, and also put in the comparison table between marsupials and placental mammals. Showing her that you know the relation of convergent evolution in Adaptive Radiation will make her super pleased. Remember to file your report--she hates loose sheets given to her. Uh-- that's all," _she blurted out the instructions without a pause._

_Before Peter could utter a word to that, the sound of the bell cut through the awkwardness in the air._

_"_ I think that's my cue to leave--- But don't hesitate to message me if you have a query. I am guessing you must be in the class group too, right? _" Freya asked him genuinely, but to him it came across as a rhetorical question so he simply gave her a nod._

_Not wanting to hear anything from him, she briskly walked away towards her locker in order to get her books for the next period._

_Peter was left in the coridoor, still processing what she had told him in slow motion._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_After her last class, Freya had ended up going to the nurse for another headache. Atleast this time it had a justifiable cause._

_Her reality was a literal question mark, she had practically forgotten how to interact with fellow homo sapiens and after browsing through the group contacts she found Peter's name in there. Nothing made sense to her._

' **W** **hat am I supposed to do now?'**

**' Run? Where? To a cliff and try to jump and wake up from this insane lifelike nightmare? No.'**

**'Stupid Freya. Think dammit.'**

' I can't be in the wrong body otherwise he wouldn't call me Freya, duh. Ofcourse he has to know me. How convenient.'

' Did I teleport? Like in movies- Nah. That's just-- hmm. Actually--I -- **Ughhhhh**!' 

'My head hurts again.'

'This stuff's harder than calculus.'

'No shit, girl.' 

'Plan B. Go home and 'sleep' to wake up from all this'.

'Perfect.'

_But before she could do so,_

**_a -wild Peter- had appeared for -Round 2- of ~Awkward Conversations~_ **

_**Peter**_ : Sorry to annoy you again, but what font size and style is to be used? Anything specific?

 _ **Freya**_ : No, not at all -um do anything- Calibri, Times Roman, Arial - anything is fine and you can do it in size 16.

 _ **Peter**_ : Okay, so what font will you use?

 _ **Freya**_ : I don't know. Times Roman maybe? Whatever looks good.

 _ **Peter**_ : Then I will do the same.

 _ **Freya**_ : Why?! I mean- you can do your own thing, you don't have to force yourself to do it like mine. In the end She is just going to read your content. It doesn't matter what font style you use. As long as it is legible and not too twisty, any font will do. Times Roman isn't her 'favorite' font if you assume that. Arial works fine too.

 _ **Peter**_ : I'm just trying to be safe. I don't intend to copy you.

 _ **Freya**_ : No- I didn't mean to sound annoyed. I just-

**_"..." "..."_ **

_"_ You know what, I think I am the root cause of the silly tensive atmosphere between us. I don't know how I started it, but I am sure you noticed it too, right _?"_

**_(Peter used 'address the elephant in the room', it was super effective - Awkwardness level down to a whopping 40%)_ **

_"_ Yeah and no, it's just me. I'm fully aware how uncomfortable I can make things for both of us, but I just don't know how to stop doing that. I should be the one to apologize, not you."

** _(Freya used ' be transparent,' it was super effective - Awkwardness level down to 20%)_ **

"No it's fine- you don't have to apologize. I should have approached at the beginning of the year itself, to get to know you. You are clearly a shy person. I'm just shocked how we didn't talk sooner. My bad, Fey. Can I call you Fey?"

** _(Peter used 'being a sweetheart,' it was super effective- Awkwardness level down to 0%)_ **

**_- Game over-_ **

"Sure but what do you mean by ' **the beginning of the year** '? _" Freya asked._

 _"_ Yeah, since the beginning of this year I have seen you sit at the back of the class, being lost in your thoughts and occasionally responding in Mrs. Travis' class- I mean lost in a good way- not like lost in something bad, _" Peter corrected himself._

 _"Geez Peter, I get what you are trying to say. You don't have to explain each and every detail to me. I'm not a time bomb ready to explode_ , _" Freya retorted as she couldn't help but smile at his goofiness, although this new information didn't satisfy her thirst for answers._

 _"_ **I didn't say that- Oh**. You are joking. Right. I will stop embarrassing myself further. By the way, if you want to join me and Ned, he is my best friend - during lunch break you are always welcome to. That is if you feel comfortable enough to be our friend _", Peter offered in a weak voice._

 _"_ S-Sure. I'll come by your table tomorrow _," Freya replied barely managing to tame her excitement._

_Atleast this bizzare situation lead to something good after all._

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	4. |:| II |:|

_When Freya reached home, she headed straight to her room upstairs for research purposes._

_She could do the same on her phone, but she needed to piece all the information together in one place- that place being her diary._

_On her way back, she googled the actors who played the role of the various characters in Marvel movies. It was a little disappointing to know that she didn't remember the full names of the actors after confessing her diehard love for their movies last night, but that's how she was._

_She could hardly remember names and dates. No wonder she barely managed to pass in history every year._

_As expected, when she searched for 'Tony Stark actor' a billion results showed up for 'the genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist' but none with the name RDJ._

_The same thing happened when she searched for the other Avengers. For those couple of minutes, Freya thought that she had landed in the fandom section of the internet, but in reality it was the news section._

_She admired the Avengers, but she wasn't obsessed with them to a level where she had read every comic issue and seen all their movies._

_So, to find an article about the '10 beauty tips the CEO of Stark Industries swears by' was the last straw for her. Her average human brain was at it's limit._

_She opened her diary and started to note down her findings._

_**A**. **She woke up in a world where superheroes and probably villains exist from movies- to be exact; Marvel movies**. _

_However, things hadn't happened according to the movies she had seen._

_\- All the Avengers were alive. There was no sign of Thanos, Ultron or Vision. At first she thought that it was just after the Chitauri Invasion, but she found articles and pictures of Dr. Strange and ofcourse, Peter as Spiderman so, she had to dismiss that idea.(and his identity was still a secret)_

_**B**. **She was certain about the fact that she was switched and another Freya was out there.**_

_Peter's words caused her to search through her old academic records and to her surprise she found no sign of her old school-- Hillview High. She recognised her face in the cringey old class photos, but their title was 'Pinehill High'. She realized that she didn't notice before the difference between Hillview High and Midtown High because the school layout was identical, it was at the same location- Forest Hills and she saw familiar faces in her class._

_**C**. Everything seemed to get through Freya , except for the main idea of her switch. **Why did it happen in the first place ? Did she cause it?** No, that was impossible 'cause she had no history of power in her family. Her mother was an accountant and her late father had been just another businessman before his death. _

_The only theory that came to her mind seemed childish and it was the fact that her last night's ranting had something to do with the switch. However the more she thought about it, the absurdity of a wish-fulfilling diary seemed to become more evident in her mind._

_On a side note, she didn't really dislike this new world._

_In the end, this was exactly what she wanted after all. A sorted world with the good guys and bad guys , no grey area. This world was supposed to be the answer to her nitpicking. However, she couldn't help but mentally curse herself that if only she had wished for something worthwhile- like the cure for terminal staged cancer/ meaning of life etc rather than being transported to the fictional world. Such a silly wish on her part._

_Still, she tried to be optimistic about this whole thing. This world was so dynamic and fantasy-like, the news would finally seem interesting enough to be watchable and the idea that Peter probably was swinging around for his nightly patrol, when she had her tuna salad made her feel extra safe._

_So, she was willing to take up this opportunity given to her by the unknown force to have a better life-_

_-_ 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔.

-𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.

_She jotted these two points on a fresh page in her diary. She had to start somewhere, rather than play the role of Sherlock for the rest of her life. May be somethings were not meant to be known._

_For now, she knew that she had to finish writing the introduction for her report. She had a whole week to finish unlike Peter, but she liked to plan ahead of her deadlines. Better be safe than sorry._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_After completing the quota for the night, Freya could only crash for five hours. It would be a lie if she would say that she wasn't distressed about the fact that there was a possiblity that her mum was not even her 'actual' mum, but she was optimistic that she too had switched with her. She would probably know the truth the next morning during breakfast._

_She needed to be early for breakfast, else she would barely get substantial amount of time to chat with her mum. This was probably the only time when she looked forward to a conversation with her._

_However, the doubts about her mum not being switched had been **confirmed** when she didn't hear from her last night. She had expected her mum to be in a panicky state when she returned from the garage empty handed and distressed from all the new info, but nothing really happened. The older female dragged herself straight to her bedroom after a tiring day at work, that's all- No gasps, shouting or predicted panic attacks._

" Mom how was your day yesterday?" _Freya asked cautiously._

" It was lovely, Froyo! Well, maybe not lovely in your books, but I must say the audits were conducted more smoothly."

" Oh, so it was different from other days?"

" Yes, definitely sweetie. It was a good work day. I managed to get all things done before the due date."

" **That's all?** "

" What do you mean that's all? Isn't that enough? I am surprised however the you are finding accountancy interesting. Do you want to pursue it as a career, dear?"

" No not really. You know I'm not good with numbers. You know that, **right** ?"

" Of course dear! I'm your mother after all! I am just shocked to see you talk to me than stay silent for the most part of the breakfast."

" I'm sorry about that. I'll try to talk more often ," _Freya looked at her empty plate with guilt._

_Maybe her other self wasn't much different._

"Great! Now I just have to find you some good friends and-" 

" **Mom! Can we not do this right now**."

" Ugh, fine. Suit yourself," _Mrs. Stratton didn't further bring up the topic so as to have a peaceful breakfast for a change._

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

_**-Next day-** _

* * *

  
_'_ Twenty more minutes'

'Twelve more minutes'

'5'

'3'

'Just a minute left.'

_Freya was staring at the clock from time to time until the bell finally rang- 🎶It was lunch time baby!🎶_

_It had been quite a while, since she had been this eager for lunch time. Don't get me wrong, she loved food as much as a cat loved fish ; but to be honest the canteen food was a literal insult to the **☆Food Gods☆**_

_She looked around, and after a few minutes she finally spotted Peter and Ned, sitting far off at the backend of the cafeteria._

_"_ H-Hi I am Freya. Nice to meet you Ned _," she tried to sound less shaky than before but failed ._

 _"_ Freya. Honestly, I never thought you would agree to hangout with us _."_

 _"_ I am sorry to make you feel that way _," Freya apologised. She didn't know what her counterpart had done , so may be she had been a mean loner girl in this world._

 _"_ **Ned! Don't say that**! He was just kidding, Fey. He meant to say that you seemed too good for us-- but now we know that's not the case. Here, have a seat _," Peter gestured her to sit opposite them. She didn't notice Ned give Peter a sly look when he called her by the nickname and quickly sat down so as to not embarrass herself further._

_Luckily their conversation was anything but embarrassing. She couldn't believe that she was willing participating in a discussion about various topics with them._

_A day ago she couldn't imagine her life without the hypothetical arguments in her mind, but here she was- being a sane person for a change._

_But just then Ned had to drop the bomb._

_"_ It sucks that this is probably the first and the last time we meet. I'm moving to Hawaii. I just got to know about it two days ago" _._

" **What?**!" 

" **Why?!** "

 _H_ _er hope to make friends diminished to a critical level_.

"I know right. It really sucks, but hey. I can have beach parties all the time!" _Ned tried to lighten up the mood, but to no avail._

"Why didn't you tell me sooner man? Aren't we best friends? " _Peter asked in a heartbroken voice._

 _"_ And would that make the situation any better? No dude, it wouldn't. I can't change my decision Peter. It's the best option for my parents' career so we just have to deal with it. Plus, now you won't be lonely . You have her beside you. She can be your girl in the cha- _-"_

" **Nope**. I'm perfectly certain that no one can replace you and also, **don't do that**."

_ " _ ** What did he do ** _?" "_ ** Don't do what ** _?"  _

" **Nothing** , absolutely nothing," _Peter eyed Ned before addressing Freya_ , " He just has the knack for revealing my **embarrassing** **secrets**. Boys' stuff you know, nothing cool about it at all. Can we change the topic? I don't feel so good. "

_So they did that for the last ten minutes of the lunch break._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_When the school hours ended, they met at a nearby coffee shop to give Ned a makeshift farewell party. A piece of chocolate truffle cake wasn't really that big of a party, but it's price sure costed Peter and Freya a significant part of their monthly pocket money. But they both knew it was worth his smile._

_After their little see off, the three parted their ways._

_Freya and Peter however, were walking together. Fun fact, they lived quite close by - couple of houses away. Peter usually took the bus , but this time he was asked by Aunt May to pick up some groceries on the way back. They were both talking about Ned, of course._

  
_"_ You don't seriously think that Cap said that 'YOLO' stands for 'Young Orangutans Love Oranges', do you? I mean, Ned must have seen some bogus article."

" I uh haven't met him so, I can't speak for him. The media has always posted a lot of rumours as facts, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's for publicity ".

"True".

"It's good that Ned didn't have a project to submit. By the way, I couldn't submit mine today. Mrs. Travis was ofcourse not happy, but I couldn't help it. I had stuff to do- i-it was another emergency."

"I sense a pattern here, don't you too Peter?" **(ㆆᴗㆆ)**

" I-I don't do it on purpose. Emergencies can happen anytime you know. It's just that mine- happen a little more frequent-"

 _Peter's phone started to ring. It shows '_ 𝑴𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌 _' on the screen. Freya saw that , even if he picked it up almost instantly. He was atleast careful not to say his name aloud._

 _ **Peter** : _Yes, what is it _?_ **(๑°⌓°๑)**

 _ **Tony** : _I need you to come over to the tower, kid. there has been a case of demensional intrusion detected . I personally think it was a false alarm, but **Mr. Righteous couldn't stop pestering me about it being the Earth's greatest threat.** ~ So, basically I'm inviting you to a tea party at my place, Your Highness.~ Don't judge my tone. I'm in a business party right now. Meet me at the tower- **now** _._

 _ **Peter** : _I'll be there in 10 minutes _._

_He hung up his phone immediately and looked at Freya with his best puppy face._

"Was that the cue for another emergency?"

" Yup- Sorry, but my aunt really needs me right now. I-I should **really** hurry right now, She forgot an important file from work. I will see you in school tomorrow- **Bye**!" _Peter lied as he began to run in the opposite direction._

"It's completely understandable Peter, don't apologize. Be careful--And he is gone and I'm still talking- I should shut up for good _," She mumbled the last part to herself._

 _'_ It must be something related to saving the earth again _._ #𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚜 #𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎 _**'**_

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

* * *

_"_ Would you like to try the jelly doughnut oreos or the lemon twists, Cap?" 

" **This is a serious matter of concern, Tony. Right now the Dimensional Intruder is freely roaming around the streets of New York and here you are acting as if that can't be a potential threat to the world . Quit being so casual about everything. "**

"I think the jelly will cut down the sourness. Don't you agree, Widow ?" 

"I don't know Tony. You shouldn't take the glitch so lightly. Isn't it your own invention? How can you brush this off so lightly?"

_Tony sighed as he sat down on the couch and bit into a lemon twist oreo ignoring the two Avengers._

"Wow, that's an odd flavour."

"-I didn't expect you to be like the old guy, Romanoff. I had already given everyone the disclaimer about the possible error signals from the prototype, but both you seem to be deaf for the part that said ' **possible errors** '. It's probably another technical fault that it started to beep a day ago. For the most part, all I can do is **fix it. I can't believe I have to rush out of the party to hear this and top of that I called the kid for no reason!"** _Tony said pointing at Peter at window who waved back at them._

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

_"_ **I wouldn't particularly say that, Stark.** _"_

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

_Doctor Strange said as he appeared from a portal behind Tony which caused him to drop his oreo._

_~~-r.i.p cookie-~~ _

"Even I was guilty of ignoring the shift first, but I can still sense the being around. Although it is getting faint with time _." Strange said as he tried to concentrate._

 _"_ How can it get ' **faint'** over time? No offence but I don't trust your magic tricks, Doctor _",Tony scoffed at him._

 _"_ At least it's more reliable than your broken toy, Tony _," Steve countered._

_Tony was about to give him a piece of his own mind when Bruce walked in to mediate the tension between the two._

_"_ How about we just do a search in the city to remove any possibilities? Just to be sure you know. And Tony I think your machine works fine. It gave a false alarm last time, but I fixed that issue when you were away _,"_

 _"_ I really think you will make a fine therapist, Bruce. Eight PhDs sound better than seven, just saying. And fine, let's do a search to clear the doubt ."

 **"** **Kid** , you heard everything right? Make sure to keep an eye out for strange people in your neighbourhood. Notify me immediately. Don't try to handle it on your own. Also take some oreos on your way back _," Tony said to Peter at the window and left with another lemon oreo in his mouth._

_Peter simply nodded before entering the room through the window. Usually he would be pretty talkative, but the fact that the intruder was in New York made him feel responsible to find him/her._

_"_ Do we know the appearance of the Intruder _?_ _", he asked nibbling on a jelly oreo._

 _"_ **No**. I can't figure out the gender, but I can definitely say that it is **as young as** you from its mind waves _," Strange said before eating the lemon oreo in disgust and mouthing ' this is awful don't try it' at Bruce who was about to put the same kind in his mouth._

 _"_ So then you are saying he/ she might be going to school ? _," Peter asked with a mouthful of jelly oreos._

"We can't be so sure, kid. Laura and I will looking into homeschooling/e-schools etc the other day as alternative options for Nate. So this 'being' might not have to attend an actual Institution. What I am trying to say is, that it's better if we start the search from there- since it's a relatively small group ," _Clint suggested._

 _"_ Then It's settled. Let's split up for the search. Nat and Clint can pose as homeschool teachers, Bruce can handle Tony to get into e-school databases, I'll follow your lead, Doc and Peter, you just need to be alert, ok?" _Steve laid out the plan._

_Peter left for his nightly patrol after that, mentally noting to keep an eye out for the intruder.The rest of the Avengers agreed and made the necessary calls to the authorities for the permission of the search._

_Stephen narrowed his eyes at Tony's device, which had been flickering in the background._

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

**' What do you want from my world, Intruder?'**

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	5. |:| III |:|

* * *

**_-One week later-_ **

* * *

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚,

𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌.

𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒕𝒐-𝒅𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕, 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖- 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒈𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒖𝒔, 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆.

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅.

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒎𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒂 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆.

𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 '𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒆'. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 '𝒎𝒖𝒎' 𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 '𝑰' 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅.

𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆- 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 . 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏-- 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔.

𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒂𝒎 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕? 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅.

𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈? 𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 ? 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅?- 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝒂 𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘? 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 - 𝑶𝑲.

𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.

𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒕. 𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅.

𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒅, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚. 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕.

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄.

𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒊𝒄 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒔.  
𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.

𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑰𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚- 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒇.

𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒚.

**~ 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂**

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_She flipped to the previous page of the diary where she had plotted a mind map and a to-do list . She glanced at the shabby network of info but she focused her attention on the things she had to get done:_

  * \- ~~𝑪𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒔~~
  * \- ~~𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑩𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕~~
  * \- 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔. ( ~~𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕~~ ~~𝒂𝒔𝒌~~ ~~𝒂𝒔𝒌~~ ~~𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕~~ **𝒂𝒔𝒌** 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅)
  * \- 𝑮𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚



_As much as her introverted self wanted to say that she didn't need Peter's help to understand that spawn of satan, she couldn't. She atleast needed to pass in the next week's test. So, she decided to give him a call._

" 𝑯𝒊 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 _!_ 𝒀𝒐𝒖'𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍 . 𝑰'𝒎 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒑, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆."

_Freya disconnected the call as a reflex._

'He's probably busy saving lives, Freya. How could you possibly think it's a great idea to trouble him for this? It's been just a week as his friend for God's sake. **Now be an independent lady and learn this crap on your own**!" _She said to herself, before staring for the next 15 minutes at the diagram of VB Theory._

"But seriously, lost your phone? What a legit excuse Peter."

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

* * *

"So.." 

" Being a teacher and a parent are a lot different, Nat. I'm sure he would be a fun teen to parent--"

" Yes or No..." 

" **Fine**! I admit he is a cocky teenager, but I still don't think you should judge a kid by their photo."

"Just admit it, Clint.You can't read their body language like the good old days and you owe me today's coffee too, period," _Natasha smirked_.

_The duo sat in a coffee shop to get their refill of caffeine. They were dressed in casual outfits and both had a file with a list of kids who were or wanted to be homeschooled._

_"_ Only two are left. I don't think the Intruder is homeschooled." 

" Me neither, but let's get this over with. I am hoping Bruce and Tony aren't having a time like us, _" Clint replied as he polished his half-rimmed spectacles._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_"_ **Shit**."

" **What happened?!** "

" The centre is still uncooked. What should I do?"

" Don't worry about that. Just put them in the oven for 5-10 minutes they will be fully baked. It has happened to me in the past a few times _," Bruce assured Tony, who was about to throw the tray of muffins in the trashcan._

_- **10 minutes later** -_

"Wanna try Bruce?"

" Of course!--- It's perfect!"

"You are being too nice. It's average. I should've put less sugar in it and whisked the eggs a little less," _Tony admitted._

 _"_ Come on man! It's amazing for your first time. Mine didn't even taste like a muffin. And we both know that you will master this skill in no time its food _science_ after all-- _"_

_"_ **If you both are done with the hobby classes, can we talk about the e-schools** **?** _**"** Steve looked visibly upset at the sight of the messy kitchen which was covered with atleast a layer of flour, broken eggs and spilled milk._

" There's nothing to talk about," _Tony retorted as he wiped his hands on a towel without looking at him._

" **Right**. This was the reason why I asked you to keep an eye on him, Banner . Bu **t, I should have known that you will just encourage his antics** ," _he gave Bruce a dissapointed look._

"Cap we-"

" **Woah** , Captain don't come at him. We did our work before all this. Like expected, there is no such Intruder in the databases checked. Let me rephrase it - **There's no Intruder at all** ," _Tony stated in a blunt voice._

"Really? **I wonder how I know it's a 16-17 years old female** , " _Steve gave him a sarcastic look as he held a sketch of a girl in his face_.

_Tony and Bruce frowned at the blurred picture of a black haired girl, whose lower face was only visible clearly._

_"_ This is your proof? **Are you kidding me Steve** _?_ _" Tony gave him a look of disbelief._

 _"_ Yes.This is **THE** proof, Tony", _Steve pinned the picture on a nearby board, before continuing._

"Dr. Strange could manage to get an rough Idea, after he analysed some of the thoughts he could hear strongly from the Intruder for the last 7 days. If he pried any further, she would realise something was up."

"Also, we know that she can be from any school near Peter's. The loud thoughts exhibiting anxiety or irritation arise from that area. It's possible that the Intruder is a shape shifter who is struggling to adapt to the school life, _" Steve explained everything to them he had discussed with Stephen an hour ago._

 _"_ So what's the plan now? _" Natasha asked as she walked in the room with Clint._

 _"_ **We will interrogate Ms. Trickster personally**."

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

_"_ Guess what. I heard that the Avengers are personally searching for someone in all the schools of New York," _whispered a girl to her friend during the Literature class as Mr. Landon snored away to glory._

 _"_ No way really?! So that means they will come to ours too right? I'm going to get all their autographs _," the friend exclaimed._

 _"_ Best of luck with that , Amy. 'Cause I heard from James - you remember him right? We met him during the interschool swim race. He told me that they were definitely searching for a criminal who is not from earth. He overheard them talking to the Dean of his school-"

**'!?'**

_"_ I'm guessing its a shape shifter otherwise how is it possible that they couldn't find him/her in a week. They even increased the security level for people leaving New York. Plus, they will do a polygraph test too. I mean its serious business so trying to get autographs might backfire in such tension."

 _'_ **Hate to break it to you, but I'm neither a criminal nor a shapeshifter. I'm just an average human**.'

_Freya thought to herself as she eavesdropped on their conversation._

' **No way in hell am I going to tell Peter when the freaking universe is giving me the sign not to**.'

'But he will know anyway, right? **Shiiiiitttt**.' 

'I should have known that for a week they must be grilling the hell out of people to find me'.

'And a polygraph machine?'

' **That thing will beep even for the facts that are true, because I, Freya the Great - am a living Niagara Falls when I panic. I'm so doomed.'**

' I think I should take a week off. **No. That would make me even more suspicious**.'

' **Think Freya think! What can** -'  
  


 _"_ Fey! Can you show me your notes for a minute! I'm kinda clueless about the family tree of Lady Ra'idah," _Peter whispered to her as he took a seat next to her._

_"_ **Her name is Ra'eesah, Peter. Also, don't do that again! I don't wanna be blamed for waking Mr. Landon up with my scream!** _" Freya hissed at him._

_After being with him for almost two weeks, she had realized he wasn't as naive as portrayed in movies._

_Maybe it was just in her case, but he loved to tease her. She would take things literally at first, but now she played along with him._

" By the way, why didn't you message me your doubts? I can't pick up my calls at times, but I'm sure this way you won't have to wait until the next day to get them sorted."

" No. I rather not disturb you."

" Why? It's totally normal to do that. I won't be disturbed as I will look at it when I'm done with my nightly pat-- **routine. I-I mean my nightly s-skin rountine** ," _Peter fumbled_.

" **Right (≖_≖ )**."

* * *

**_-3 days later-_ **

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

**_-in an xyz school-_ **

_"_ Do you sense her, Doctor? _," Steve asked._

 _"_ No it's gone. Unless and until the thoughts are caused due to strong emotions or are regarding their own world in the mind, I can't sense the difference _," Dr. Strange explained._

 _"_ **Great**! So we are stuck playing the hot &cold game _," Tony rolled his eyes in bafflement._

"Do you have any better suggestions Tony? At least we have narrowed down the area," Steve defended and continued, " **If you are not going to be of any help then why did you decide to join the search**?"

 _"_ Not at all. I'm just **enjoying myself**. The earth is fine with zero trouble so I don't mind your **childish treasure hunt. I'm simply making a scientific observation regarding your level of stubbornness**. And also, I don't have any meetings right now so I can volunteer _," Tony replied smugly. Just then Stephen announced--_

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

_"_ **She's near".**

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

"She's in Midtown High, without a shadow of doubt."

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

* * *


	6. |:| IV |:|

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚,

𝑰 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔.

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕.

𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 : 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.

𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒆- 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕 -- 𝒊𝒏 **𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚** 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.

𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒊𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐, 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒊𝒕.

𝑻𝒉𝒖𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒚𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔.

𝑺𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚.

𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐, 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.

𝑻𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒉𝒚𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒄. 

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉. 

𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒕.

 **𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒂𝒌𝒆**.

**𝑪𝒂𝒌𝒆!**

𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕! 𝑰𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉. 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆-𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂.

 **𝑶𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅**.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆? **𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈**.

𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 **,**

 **𝑰** **𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍** **𝒑𝒆𝒕 𝒂** **𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆**.

**~ 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂**

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

**_-Next day-_ **

* * *

_"_ I'm sure you much have heard from your friends that the Avengers are visiting all the schools in New York. Today is our lucky day so, I expect each one of you to be on your best behaviour _," Mrs. Travis announced in her class, "_ They are here to just ask some basic questions so you don't have to freak out. I'm sure you all much have seen the recent trendy videos related to the lie detector tests. It's similar to that _," she assured them._

_'_ **Of course. This is such a casual thing.'**

**'The Avengers are here to CASUALLY interview each one of us. This is JUST another meet-and-greet. It's not like they are gonna QUARANTINE me. That's just movie bullshit,** **'** _Freya nervously smiled to herself._

_'_ To think that I thought baking a cake was the solution, **yeah right. Want to dig your own grave? Then why use a spade when you have a freaking bulldozer?** _ **'** At this point her legs trembled with high anxiety._

 _"_ They aren't that scary in real life, trust me, Freya _", Peter tried to assure her when he saw her visibly shaking in silence._

 _"_ You are just saying that as you know Tony Stark personally, Peter. **I don't** _," Freya replied in a pessimistic tone. She hated the fact that he wouldn't react to her in the same way, when her interrogation was over. So, she decided to distance him before the final blow itself._

 _" I didn't think you hated to be put into the spot this bad._ I'm sorry to not notice this before, Fey. You know what- Let me try to do what I can to help. I'll talk to Mr. Stark. I'm sure he will make an exception for you--"

 _"_ **No!** Don't do that. I don't want your help- I mean I don't want him to make an exception for me . I just want to get this over with. _That's all I want," she whispered the last part as she got up from her place and left for the girls' washroom._

_Peter seemed to be in deep thought before he too excused himself to go to the loo. But instead, he went to make a call._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

"What happened to the LEGO guy? Wasn't he the only one you told me about the other day? How come I don't know about her until now? Don't tell me-- **Is she your crush, kid? Aww so adorable, I can't** -" _Tony teased him in a shrill voice_.

" **IT'S NOT LIKE THAT, Mr. Stark! S-She's a f-friend of mine.** A girl and a boy c-can be friends **."**

" True, kid. But your case doesn't fall under that category, **does it now**?"

" **Fine! Think what you want.** But are you ok with this arrangement?"

"Sure, you can be in the room with your Juliet when we ask her questions. Don't worry. I won't abuse the power given to me **to ask what she truly feels about y--** "

" **OK! UNDERSTOOD! Byeee Mr. Stark!,"** _Peter didn't allow him to finish the sentence and disconnected the call._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

" **The thoughts stopped again** _," Dr. Strange whispered to the group after the interrogation of the 14th person got over._

_"_ **Are you kidding? Again** _**?** ", Tony snapped. _

_"_ The intruder is mentally skilled, Stark. It can control their flow of thoughts very well _," Dr. Strange said as he scrutinized the faces of the students in the line outside the room._

 _"_ About that Mr- Dr. Strange. Wouldn't an interrogation make her more apprehensive? And why are we interviewing every kid? Doesn't the intruder have black hair and is female? _" Bruce pointed out._

 _"_ Yes it will. However, that would also increase her chances to make a mistake. And how can you be so certain Mr. Banner, **that she didn't change her hair color in this time period?** _" Strange asked with a small smirk._

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

_"_ **The moment there is a slip up on her part, this chase will end. _"_**

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

'Cocoa powder, sugar, salt, oil- vegetable oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract. That's all right? _ **'**_

_**'** _ Shoot. I forgot the flour _**.'** _

  
_"_ Ms. Johnson you have been a really good sport, however we can't possibly take a selfie with each one of you. This isn't a meetup. There are still people left to be questioned _," Tony stated coolly to the tear-stained student in the room, who had been the biggest drama queen ever while Freya, who was waiting near the entrance of the room, was busy recollecting the ingredients for the chocolate cake in her imaginary kitchen. Why chocolate you ask? 'Cause anything else was simply meh to her._

" **Ms. Freya Stratton it's your turn now** "

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_There was an empty chair facing opposite to the group consisting of Steve, Banner, and Dr. Strange._

_A polygraph machine was kept on the table with wires and clips hanging loosely for the said person to put on._

_Natasha and Tony were ~~strategically~~ casually strolling around the room to make the atmosphere a little less formal and nauseating. _

_Clint and Peter were surprisingly having a top-secret conversation about_ 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 _at the back of the room before she walked in. After which, the archer was busy polishing one of his arrows and the latter walked up to a confused looking Freya._

 _"_ Mr. Parker told me that you were quite nervous about this Ms. Stratton. Don't worry. This will be over soon. Still, he can stay beside you for **moral support, I guess** _," Tony tried to sound uninterested as he went through some pages of the file in his hand._

_" **Thank you**_ _", Freya replied to him, but looking at Peter who maintained steady eye contact with her till the moment she fixed the clips on her fingers after taking their respective seats. Let's begin._

**'Step 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees** _'_

_"_ Is your name actually Freya Sigmund Stratton _?" Bruce asked._

"Yes. That's my full name sir _."_

 _There was a single beep to confirm_.

"Were you born in the year 20_ _? Also, you can drop the sir, it's completely okay to not address us like that _," Steve replied with a courteous smile._

 _"_ Ok C-Captain. Yes. Yes, I was . _"_

_**'** _ **Step 2. Mix the dry ingredients together - flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda .....ah! yes, sieve the cocoa powder gently. I don't really know why is it needed to be done so but little rituals like these please the ☆Food Gods☆ enough to bless the cake with deliciousness.'**

_Beep._

"Is Peter your close friend?" _Clint asked._

 _"_ I hope so _", she replied glancing at Peter._

_Beep._

_Freya wasn't sure if she was happy to clear through that question or rather sad to_ 𝓯𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓭𝔃𝓸𝓷𝓮 _herself. Technically she was his friend, but that word seemed to give her an uneasy feeling. Nonetheless, on to the next ques-_

_'_ **Step 3. Mix all the wet ingredients separately. First at a medium pace, then low. Hand mix the last part to get the desired consistency. Neither to fluid nor too thi -'**

"Have you known about us, Avengers for more than a year? _" Tony asked while playing with a smiley face ball._

 _"_ Yes. Probably a few years now _."_

_'_ 3/4th of my life can be 'few' compared to the lifespan of a banyan tree right? So that definitely counts _'_

_Beep._

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

**'** Where was I?  **Ah right! Not too thick.'**

_**'** _ **Step 4. Mix both the dry and the wet mixtures together. Why do the mixing in 3 steps one may think? Why of course** **to** ~~ **please the ☆Food Gods☆ again**~~ **have an even batter without lumps duh** _**.'** _

_"_ Do you identify as a human? _" Stephen narrowed his eyes at her briefly._

_"_ **Yes 100%** _"_

_Beep._

_'_ That's a weird way to ask ,but whatever _'_

**' Step 5. Pour the batter in the cake pan/mold sprayed with cooking spray. And gently tap the pan to even the distribution. Put in oven and ba-'**

**_"_** Did you notice one of us is missing?" _Natasha asked._

 _"_ Yes I did, Thor isn't here _."_

_'_ ** He is probably chilling in Asgard enjoying his food. Does he know how to cook/bake? I can't seem to recollect. I'm getting off track. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.' **

** 'Step 6. Use a toothpick to poke in the middle of the cake to see whether it's fully baked or not.' **

** 'Step 7. Eat _'_ **

_"_ You can remove the clips now, Ms. Stratton _," Strange sounded exhausted_

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

"How are you feeling Ms. Stratton?"

"Intimidated"

" Why is that?"

" It's not often that I'm interrogated by anyone, let alone the Avengers," _Freya replied nonchalantly._

 _"_ That's quite a ~~sober~~ **sound reason**. Nevertheless, you will be pleased to know that your turn is over _," he said in a tired voice._

_Freya got up with Peter who was silently listening to the whole conversation._

_He was kinda dejected to know that she simply considered him a friend but he didn't lose hope. At least he knew that she cared about him - that was a good starting point._

_He could slowly make it a 'different' special way using the tips_ 𝓒𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓾𝓹𝓲𝓭 _had given him._

 _"_ See that wasn't bad, was it Fey? You were nervous for no reason before. I did notice that you became quite comfortable towards the end _," Peter whispered to her as they got out of the room._

_Tip #7 comfort/cheer up your crush after she had a stressful experience._

_"_ You are right!~ It was fun! But I think it was mostly because you were beside me the whole time _," she replied to him in a light-headed state caused by the chaotic mind baking._

_She was absolutely stunned when they allowed her to leave the room. She couldn't believe that her crazy idea had worked somehow._

_Although when she remembered the scaly aftermath she had promised herself, her smile faltered._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

**_"_ I can't handle listening to the thoughts of these kids anymore. My mind is overwhelmed by their bizzare line of thoughts** _," Strange stated as he pressed the bridge of his nose for relief._

_"_ I can understand that the previous girl was being a brat with her demands, but Juliet too? She seemed the quiet nice type _," Tony looked surprised._

 _"_ You're right Tony. She wasn't screaming or cursing in her thoughts. Still, **mentally baking a cake can bake one's mind with it too you know** _ **,** " Strange said with a forced smile at him." _

" **Wow**."

" I know , it's always the quiet ones they say."

"No **, I want to rather hangout with this girl again** ".

"I think we will make great Bake Buddies and I can spill some vanilla extract about the kid.~"

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

* * *

**- _Next day_ -**

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want the last piece? _" Peter asked._

 _"_ I'm positive Peter. This is just for you. I've had my share ~~2 failed attempts~~ for dinner and breakfast _," Freya assured him._

 _'_ 𝓙𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 _'_

_That was it._

_That caused him to take a messy bite of the cake piece. She was so oblivious about the fact that those three simple words could be a choking hazard for a cinnamon roll like him._

_"_ Be careful with that Peter. I wouldn't want your hoodie to get stained with the frosting _," Freya said as she caught a chunk of cake that fell from the corner of his mouth. To her, he looked like an adorable puppy eating the cake._

_Actually scratch that. Chocolate cake is a big no no for those little angels._

_Ah yes, ~Chocolate Cake the Legendary Saviour~._

_Freya might have been great at mentally baking a cake, but real life wasn't that perfect._

_She was terrible with measurements._

_As a result, she still had pieces left from the failed attempts at home. Her mom expected her to finish them all by herself in the next 2 days as she herself had the bad case of '_ I'm on a blah blah blah diet for this month Froyo, so I'll have to skip- but remember mom loves you ~'.

_At this point, she was ready to eat cakes for a month . I mean, it was practically a miracle that she didn't get caught. Still, she was very reluctant to pet a snake._

_' **No**_. You can't back out, Freya. **You will pet a snake.** You should be ready to pet every single one of them in this world after escaping from the impossible!' _she screamed in her thoughts. '_ Maybe that's too much. One's good enough for now.'

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_"_ Let's end this Doctor. I know that I was all for the search, but as you can see, it has gotten us nowhere for the last twelve days _," Steve said with a disappointed look on his face._

 _"_ No. I can't do that when we are so close to the- _"_

 _"_ **What do you mean no** **?!** Alright, I'm done here. It was all fun and games before but this is the **limit of baselessness. If you are bored then take another trip to the Himalayas** , _" Tony blurted out in an accusing tone._

 _"_ Because I've been- _"_

_Stephen abruptly stopped as if he finally knew the answer to the million-dollar question._

_"_ **It's the cake girl**."

" **What ?-Who?-no way. What do you mean Juliet is-** "

 _"_ I've been tracking the thoughts of the Midtown high kids as a precaution since the mind waves were strongest there. However, I must applaud Ms. Stratton or should I say the **Ms. Intruder's** mental skills. Still, I don't understand why did she not make a move? Is she here to study our world? What happened to the actual girl? **Why not pay a visit to her, shall we?"** _He said as he opened a portal._

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

~ _[Cake recipe link](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/basic-chocolate-cake-recipe-2120876) __~_


	7. |:| V |:|

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒆𝒏𝒅:

  * -𝑶𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒇𝒇 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒈𝒆
  * -𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒔
  * -𝑩𝒖𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔
  * -𝑫𝒐 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈
  * -𝑮𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒛𝒐𝒐 𝒕𝒐 ~~𝒑𝒆𝒕~~ 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆



**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

* * *

* * *

_Freya hesitantly corrected the last part._

_She knew that taking baby steps wouldn't change how scary the final boss was , but this way atleast she knew that she would go anywhere near the reptile. Perhaps, the next weekend she would have the guts to touch it._

_She closed her diary and threw herself on the bed._

_It was past dinner time, but still quite early in Freya's book. However, after completing twenty-something worksheets worth of homework, she was feeling exhausted. So, she thought it wouldn't hurt anyone if she went to bed early._

~~_or would it?_ ~~

  
**･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･**

* * *

* * *

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆ :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

"What is this place?" _Freya said when she realized that she was in a dull lit room. There seemed to be no exit or entrance to the room, so she decided to follow the dimlight source._

_Within few minutes, she found an empty chair in the middle of nowhere._

_"_ I must say, my brain is running low on creativity. To think that my reality is more dream-like than my actual dream, is something I never thought I would say," she scoffed and sat on it.

 _But_ _to her surprise, the setting of the room changed the moment she sat on the plain-looking chair._

_She was now in a movie theatre. She noticed that she was holding a tub of popcorn and a large sized cola was kept on a side table. The uncomfortable wooden chair had transformed into a cushion recliner. A big screen appeared in front of her. It suddenly lit up to start a countdown._

_" Dang!_ I'm sorry brain! I spoke too soon. Thanks for arranging all this. I really appreciate it , _" she apologised to her unconscious mind before the countdown was over for the movie to begin._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_The movie was more of a compilation of her life moments. It began with her first memory which was the time when she was in nursery._

_It was a clip of a little boy she was trying to comfort, who did not want to eat the school meal given to him. She remembered that random event because the boy kept wailing for the rest of the day about it and he also refused to drink water for hours. The school teacher had not forced him to eat it and had even offered him candies as an apology, but the child was having none of it._

°•°•°•°•°

 _"_ My brain sure loves to keep random crap rather than useful stuff. I'm sure that kid doesn't even remember this _," Freya said before munching on her caramel popcorn. Her time in nursery was filled with embarrassing moments._

•°•°•°•°•

_One time she cried to her 8 months pregnant teacher, Mrs. Smith, as she thought she was gonna die. When asked why she thought so, she couldn't believe others hadn't noticed what she had._

_Her teacher obviously had a severe gas problem and her stomach was like an inflated balloon. But the worse part was, the gas had kept filling up for months and Freya thought her favourite teacher would one day explode._

_Her younger self may have been oblivious to the hilarious reactions of her parents and teacher, but now her current self was dying of embarrassment on her part._

_The time sped up. It was the first day of elementary school for Freya. She realized that she was going to meet 'her'._

°•°•°•°•°

_She quietly put her popcorn away with her drink on the side table and took a heavy sigh. She mentally prepared herself to see 'her' face._

•°•°•°•°•

_**Sara**._

_She was nothing like the way she had seen her four years ago._

_Five year old Sara was the sweetest girl she had ever met in her life . She was innocent, dorky and a hopeless romantic from the day one. The toddler would literally write her initials with every single boy in their class, hoping that someone would turn out to be her prince charming someday._

_It would be a lie if Freya said she wasn't annoyed by her to-be best friend's antics, but she soon got the hang of it. At times she would help Sara out on stalking few of the potential suitors in her class._

_No, she wouldn't be the stalker._

_Rather she would keep her friend company on her stalking missions. This custom had continued for eight years straight until, Sara's eyes fell upon her soulmate- **Maddox**. _

_Maddox was the new kid in their class that year. His looks checked all the points in Sara's mind. From his baby blue eyes to his dimpled smile. His very existence reinforced Sara's belief in love at first sight._

_Unfortunately, just like every other person in this world, he wasn't perfect._

_Maddox was a bully. In fact, he had transferred to their school due to 'previous episodes of maladaptive behaviour'. At first, he didn't cause much trouble._

_His activities ranged from belittling and provoking others to occassionally spreading rumours about specific kids he didn't like. There came a time when Freya happened to be his target._

_In the beginning she ignored his provocations. That didn't sit well with Maddox, so he decided to be inappropriate with her and pulled her skirt._

_He had expected her to cry or shout, but Freya instead punched him in the face. Soon the news spread among the kids about how the big bad bully had finally received his punishment in the form of a broken nose. Thankfully, that punch was enough for him to stop his misbehaviour altogether._

_So, Freya thought he was just another boy in Sara's list, but she soon realized how serious Sara felt about Maddox when she found a crumbled love letter/note in her pencil box, in which her friend had confessed her undying love for him in her jagged handwriting._

_A part of Freya was upset to know that her best friend had fallen in love with a prick like him, but another part in her reminded her how happy Sara was recently. Thus, she decided to look past her own personal bias and think as a friend._

_To be honest, in a wierd way she could see them working as a couple. Yes, it was true that she had zero knowledge in the category of romance as a 13 year old, but after faithfully reading mangas and watching some movies that Sara had suggested, she could finally understand her mind to some extent._

_She had observed that Maddox was like a different person with Sara. He seemed more tolerable as he laughed at her silly jokes rather than make fun of them. She hoped that maybe Sara could bring about a much needed change in him for good._

_But she soon realized how **wrong** she was._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_It was a Wednesday in the month of September, when Sara got her 'first period'._

_Since the time she came to school, Freya noticed how tensed she looked. She kept glancing from time to time at a big sling bag she had carried that day._

_When Freya asked her if something was wrong with it, she brushed it off by saying that it contained her emergency period supplies like pads, towels and sanitizer etc. Not thinking much about it, Freya didn't mention it for the rest of the day._

°•°•°•°•°

 _"_ **Look at her**. **She was not even her usual bubbly self. No talk about that prick**. No talk about how silly my pigtails looked. **Nothing was normal**. **How could I miss these red flags?** " _Freya hissed to herself and looked away from the screen for the remaining film._

•°•°•°•°•

_It was the time for school dispersal when Sara abruptly stopped Freya._

_She requested her to accompany her to the washroom as she felt that her first period had come. Without a second thought, Freya agreed and both of them headed to the girls' washroom._

_No one was there at that time. It was just Freya, Sara and her bag._

_Sara excused herself to one of the stalls and asked Freya to wet her towel in the sink as she expected some bloodstains down there._

_When Freya rinsed the towel with warm water and handed it to Sara in the stall without looking, she felt a **cold** , **scaly** **rope-like** thing coil around her arm._

_Her immediate reaction was to shove it away._

_When Freya looked at the direction of the unnerving feeling, she saw the slithery beast coiled around a petrified Sara who was as pale as a ghost._

_Since the time she was born, Freya had an aversion to snakes after hearing from her mom that her father had died from a snakebite. Thus, icy fear clutched her heart and froze her feet to the ground._

_She wanted to help, but her body refused to cooperate._

_When she finally snapped out of her daze, she was roughly pushed to the ground by a teacher and a snake catcher managed to free Sara from the grasp of the reptile._

°•°•°•°•°

_The screen started to glitch as Freya covered her ears to not hear the voices of the authorities who were calling her **evil** , **devil-child** and **wolf in sheep's clothing etc.**_

•°•°•°•°•

_This was the reason why Freya was afraid to touch or even see a snake. However, this wasn't the reason why she lost her faith in friendship._

_It was the moment Sara pointed at her when she was asked who was responsible for all this._

_She officially testified that Freya had orchestrated this 'prank'._

_Without further clarification, Freya was suspended for three months. She tried to defend herself, but no one paid any attention to her cries. She wasn't allowed to be anywhere near Sara until she was back to school._

_During those three months, she had to go for compulsory therapy sessions where she was forcefully made to accept her 'sin'._

_The so-called child counsellor locked her in a room with a non-venomous snake to make her feel 'guilty' for the way she pranked Sara. For hours she would be screaming and banging on the door to be let out. She was finally let out when she was ready to accept 'her' mistake._

_Her mother could only comfort her during those sleepless nights as she was barred by the higher authorities to not interfere with her daughter's 'treatment'. She never doubted Freya's innocence, but as expected, her pleas to investigate the matter fell upon deaf ears._

* * *

_For days, Freya wondered the reason for Sara's lie._

_Had she done something wrong?_

_Was Sara unhappy to be her friend?_

_Was this Sara's way of cutting ties with her?_

_And **why**? _

_**Why would you put yourself at risk to trick someone who was your best friend?** _

_It didn't make any sense to Freya._

_After three months, she got her answer from Sara herself. She confessed that she had done it for **Maddox**._

_He had asked her to prove her 'love' for him by accusing Freya of hurting her._

_He was the **mastermind** behind the whole plan._

_**He bought the snake**. **He instructed Sara** on how to **trick Freya** into the washroom alone with her. **He** was the one to anonymously **inform the teacher** about Freya's prank._

**_It was all him. _ ** **_Only HE mattered to her._ **

_Both the Freyas were crying at this point._

°•°•°•°•°

_"_ **You didn't even think twice to throw our friendship out of the window for a boy? Ms. _Spineless, aren't you?_** _" their voices resonated the pain of betrayal. "_ **And I'm the biggest idiot to trust you** _."_

•°•°•°•°•

_Sara proceeded to apologize to the on-screen Freya, but she became silent when Freya asked her if she would testify against Maddox._

_That two-minute silence began a ripple of mistrust for people in Freya's heart._

_Coincidently, both Sara and Maddox were transferred to a school in New Orleans for their 'personal reasons'._

_However, the damage was done._

_The other students had already distanced themselves from her. The same people who had applauded her for punching Maddox were gossiping how 'psycho' she was. Most of them and the teachers knew her since forever, but no one seemed to care about clearing her name. This continued until the new teacher Mrs. Deborah Travis, was appointed for Freya's class._

_The elderly woman noticed within a few weeks how the whole class made a conscious effort to isolate Freya from the group activities. She was perplexed by the fact that the latter didn't mind being ignored._

_So, she took it as a challenge to warm up to Freya. It started with basic compliments about her assignments and progressed into 'life encouragement sessions with Mrs. Travis'._

_Freya didn't open up to her in the beginning as she assumed her attitude would change when she would come to know about the 'snake incident'. However to her surprise, Mrs_. _Travis_ _fought with a fellow teacher infront of her when the latter tried to humiliate Freya for sucking up to the new oblivious teacher._

_She did not hesitate to say that Freya was innocent._

_When she asked her why did she defend her without even knowing the truth, she simply said that she didn't need to._

_There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that Freya was framed. It was painfully evident for anyone to see that she had zero psychopathic tendencies._

_To Mrs. Travis, Freya was just a shy yet talkative teen who could write a thesis about food being her religion and her faith in the_ **☆Food Gods☆ _._**

°•°•°•°•°

 _"_ I don't know how our first meeting was in this world. But having seen you, I can somehow tell that you will still believe in me under any circumstances. Thank you for being you, Mrs. Travis," _Freya said with a tearful smile as she looked at the screen._

 _"_ It sucks that no one else will know the actual truth. That prick and Sara got their happy ending. What about **me**? **Did I not deserve one?"**

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

" **Yes, you do Freya**. I can't tell if this world is your happy ending, but be assured that six more people know the truth now _," Steve said as he stepped out of the void with the rest._

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆..._ **

**_"..."_ **

**_"..."_ **

**_"_ ** _**What the he--** "_

_" Language, kid."_

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	8. ||:✧:||

"...."

" **_no_**." 

**"I'm not gonna sign up for another emotional rollercoaster! I'm done for the day!** " _Freya's words echoed into the void._

_Stephen opened his mouth to speak, but Freya beat him to it._

" **No! Hush!"**

 **"I don't wanna know how disappointed you are with me. My lacrimal glands have already gone on a strike after the movie. I get it, dude. I'm sorry to deceive you all. Before you tell me how manipulative I was to use Peter to get a lenient interrogation, stop. I didn't ask him to do that.** **He is my friend regardless of what you all think.** **Yes, it might not be the case in a few days if I'm caught, but I can't help it. I didn't have a choice to come here. Writing in my personal diary about how sorted people are in movies and how cool it would be to be in a world of superheroes, does not qualify as my consent to be teleported to this world**. **Whatever genie granted my 'wish' should have atleast reconfirmed it with me . So, don't you dare gang up on me! First the crappy movie and now this-- Sorry, but I'm really tired to deal with guilt. Sleep is supposed to be peaceful and a rejuvenating experience not energy draining! So, please leave. I have school tomorrow for God's sake!** " _Freya ranted._

_She looked at their shocked faces and not wanting to make the situation more awkward, she turned away from them. She closed her eyes in the hope that they would disappear._

_However, when she opened them, she realized that she was in a room that looked like a small library. A library with mystic books to be exact._

_She was in Sanctum Sanctorum with the Avengers._

" I hope this will be enough to convince you that we are not in your dream," _Stephen coolly stated._

 _"_ Yeah right, says every nightmare ever," _Freya nervously chuckled._

 _"_ Listen kid. When I woke up after seventy years, it took me a while to adapt to this world. But trust me, we are not your nightmare. I know it must be difficult for you to cope with so much new information. So, please. Let us help you, Freya _," Steve gave her a warm smile._

"Like Mr. Rogers said, I understand that you are a person to be in denial. Still, I would appreciate if you can tell us in detail what has happened till now, Ms. Stratton. How about we talk over some tea _?" Strange asked casually as he gestured to one of the chairs._

_Freya gingerly sat down as she tried to process what was happening. She looked at the other Avengers who seemed to act casual by being engrossed in the ancient books and artifacts. But she knew that their complete attention was on her._

_After taking a sip of the hibiscus tea, she began to narrate her version of the switch._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_"_ Wait. What do you mean by we are **fictional**? Maybe we existed before and now in your world we are a part some mythology. That can be a possiblity too, right _?" Clint suggested when Freya dropped the f-word._

 _"_ No. I'm afraid that's not the case. Like I said, you do exist in my world, but in the pages of comic books and movies. Plus, you look just like the actors who play you. So, that's why I said that you all are fictional." _Freya carefully chose her words so as to not give him another existential crisis._

 _"_ That means you know pretty much everything about us and the events that happen here, correct _?" Tony asked as he casually played with an artifact._

 _"_ Again, no. I don't think that's the case. Some people are not supposed to be here until a point, while some don't exist at all. I tried to figure out the timeline, but it's all mixed up. And I don't want to let out spoilers 'cause who knows, it might start a butterfly effect or something."

"Good thinking , Ms. Stratton. However, how can you be so certain that it's a switch? I can't seem to sense any disturbance of that sort. In fact, **I don't sense any reality where we are fictional at all,** " _Stephen said as he placed his empty cup on the saucer._

 _"_ See, I admit I deceived you before but you have to believe me. Why would I lie to you now?" _Freya said in a tensed voice as her fear grew evident with every word she spoke._

 _"_ Calm down, Freya. I never said you were. I think you may be correct about a 'genie' being involved or a better word being a _sorcerer_."

" So are you implying that her dimension is hidden under some magic spell?" _Natasha asked._

 _"_ Yes. Although, I'm curious to know their reason. I don't sense any type of magic from her. So, what can they possibly gain from her?"

_The room became silent as everyone tried to think for a valid reason to all this. Bruce decided to break the silence._

_"_ How about we keep her under observation till the person shows up? Because surely, the person responsible will come to get her soon."

" That's a brilliant idea. Ok kiddo, pack your bags by tomorrow evening. I will arrange your room at the tower," _Tony replied_.

" I don't-"

" **No**."

" **What's with you now?!** You want her to get kidnapped or something?!" _Tony scoffed at Stephen._

 _"_ No. I mean let her stay here. Clearly, magic is involved in this situation. Your machines won't be able to do anything against dimensional magic, Stark _," Stephen explained._

 _"_ I hate to say this, but I will have to agree with Tony on this one. The Avengers Tower is a more hospitable place to live and a kid like her will frankly, enjoy the stay, Doc. Freya, you can check out the gaming facilities on the 37th floor and of course, the movie theatre can be your weekend hotspot," _Steve tried to bribe Freya._

 _"_ I'd love to, but I don't think my mom will allow me to live there so suddenly."

"Come on. Just tell her it's part of Stark internship or something _," Tony suggested._

 _"_ But I'm not into cool tech stuff. She won't buy that easily-"

 _"_ **I'll talk to her personally,** **kid** _._ Are we cool now?" _Tony tried to convince her._

 _"_ Fine. I'll stay at the tower," _Freya reluctantly replied. "_ But after you convince her that is _."_

 _"_ Consider it already _done_ , _" Tony retorted as he texted on his phone._

"I don't understand what is wrong with her staying at my place though. I can provide her with the same source of entertainment, you know."

"No offence, but your place seems more like horror house. It's so quiet that it gives me the chills _," Tony pretended to be scared._

 _"_ Fine. I guess I'll have to keep a watch from far then. And don't worry, you can continue with your lifestyle other than this little change, Ms. Stratton _," Strange said as he got up from his chair, causing Freya to do the same._

 _"_ So...will one of you tell Peter or do I-I have to do it? _" she asked hesitantly._

 _"_ Honestly it would be great for him to know this from you, but I can understand if you are scared of his reaction. I'll tell him tomorrow _," Tony said._

 _"_ Thank you, Mr. Stark _."_

 _"_ No problem. Although I must say that you don't realize how assertive you can be. Fews minutes ago when you thought we were your figment of imagination, you were pretty articulate about your feelings. You can be quite the drama queen, Juliet _," Tony gave her a smug smile._

 _"_ S-Sorry about that. Please forget about it _," Freya was as red as a tomato._

 _"_ I've already made the copies of the clip for each one of us. I'll send one to you too, your welcome by the way _," Tony smirked._

 _"_ WHA- **DELETE IT!** "

 _"_ Aww so cute. It's adorable how you think I'm going to do that. You have agreed to stay at our place, so get used to this, Juliet. _"_

 _"_ Then I changed my mind. **I'll stay here**."

" That's a great decision, Ms.-"

" About that, your mom already replied me with an acceptance letter."

 _"_ **What?!** But-but it's so late! She's probably asleep now _," Freya said as she realized that she had no watch with her._

 _"_ I don't think so, Juliet _," Tony showed her the acceptance email._

 _'_ Why do you have to be extra efficient mom? _'_

 _"_ Agreed _," Stephen looked at Freya causing her to be startled._

 _"_ Did you just h-hear my thought?"

" Obviously."

" So.. does that mean you heard _**everything**_ during my interrogation?"

" I didn't really hear each of your thoughts, but I'm guessing I did hear what you think I heard."

 _"_ **Oh**. I see. _Huh_. So.. how do I stop **that**?"

" Stop what?"

" Being loud in my thoughts."

" Be soft I guess?"

**ಠ_ಠ**

' **Right..**.'

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	9. |:| I |:|

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚,

𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒂 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓.

𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕.

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒂 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒎.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒌𝒆𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆.

 **𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂**.

𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑰'𝒎 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒂 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓.

𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

𝑨𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝑰 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒖𝒔𝒖𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆'𝒔 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 ( 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚) 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒌𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒃 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒎 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅.

𝑶𝒉, 𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒋𝒐𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚.

𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒚, 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 '𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕' 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 ~~𝑴𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌~~ 𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑.( 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒌𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝑴𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆- 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕)

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈.

𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.

𝑺𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 '𝒎𝒚' 𝒎𝒐𝒎, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐.

𝑺𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔,

𝑴𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉.

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍? 𝑯𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 𝑵𝒐.

𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌.

𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕,

𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒖𝒎 𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒚.

𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒂𝒖𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.

𝑫𝒂𝒏𝒈, 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚.

𝑳𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏. 𝑰 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒖 , 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅.

𝑨𝒍𝒂𝒔, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆.

𝑵𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝑩𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍-𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅?

𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚.

𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑩𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒆.

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝑶𝑴𝑼𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑬!!!

𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒔!

𝑵𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒕 / 𝒓𝒂𝒘 𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆!

𝑴𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈!

𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒛𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒆𝒈𝒈𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏.

𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒂𝒇𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝑨𝒍𝒔𝒐, 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 '𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕' 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍. 𝑫𝒓. 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒔𝒐 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘.

𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒖𝒑, 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚.🎉

𝑶𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈--

𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 , 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑬𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉'𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉.

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰'𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.

𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑰𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕𝒔.

𝑶𝒉 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉, 𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕...𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑯𝒆'𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒚.

𝑵𝒐𝒕 **𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕** 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.

𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 ~~𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆~~ **𝒏𝒐,** 𝒉𝒆'𝒔 **𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈**. 𝒀𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍.

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆.

𝑷𝒍𝒖𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒓 𝒌𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓-𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆.

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆'𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔? 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉.

𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 **𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅** 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒐-𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 ' **𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆** '.

 **𝑼𝒈𝒉** , 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏, 𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒂 𝒈𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 '𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒔'.

...

𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒅. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑻𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒘𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.

𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒘'𝒔 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒎 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔.

~ **𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂**

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

* * *

* * *

_"_ Are you busy?" _Natasha knocked on the door._

_"_ No, not at all. I was just writing about the grilled cheese in my diary _," Freya chuckled._

 _"_ Oh of course. I don't think I'll be able to forgot the taste for the next few weeks. I hope my omurice will make it up to you though _," Natasha said as she sat on the bed._

 _"_ I'm sure it will! You have no idea how excited I'm for breakfast even if my stomach hurts right now. It will toughen up soon. It better does so, _" Freya replied as she shut her diary._

 _"_ You really love food, don't you _?"_

 _"_ Only _good_ food _."_

" Of course, 'good' food," _Natasha smiled_. "It's really nice to have you here, Freya. I really mean it. It can get a bit exhausting for me to be with the boys all the time. So, I'm glad that I have girl friend now"

" I can understand. Technically Wand-more females are supposed to be here, but I guess in this world it's a bit different," _Freya replied_.

" Really? Well, I hope they join us soon. We can all have a group to bitch about the boys."

" Are they _that_ awful?"

" Give it a week.You will understand what I mean then."

" Awesome," _Freya said with a dramatic sigh and turned her chair towards her._

 _Natasha looked at her diary on the table and commented "_ You have a pretty unique diary. I like its design, quite antic looking. Where did to buy it? _"_

 _"_ This thing? Oh, I had seen a copy of this in almost every bookstore at the time when I bought it. It must have been disbanded since then- since 20_ _. It's been five years now, so maybe it's no more trendy _," Freya replied as she offered Natasha a closer look to it._

 _"_ Strange, how come this didn't become a public hit? I can totally see people admiring such kind of handiwork."

"I guess I was lucky enough to spot this beauty . Although there was a time when I only admired the cover. I hated to write in it. I thought I had to be prim and proper with my writing to match its cover. Now I just write whatever I want. It's my journal, to-do list and occasional scribble-doodle book."

_Natasha laughed and handed back the diary to her._

_"_ It's your diary after all. No one will judge you by what you do with it," _she replied as she stepped out of Freya's room. "_ Good night, Freya _."_

 _"_ Good night Nat _," Freya smiled back at her. She then proceeded to close the door and switch off the main lights. The lamp on the side table was still on, as she walked up to her bed and placed the diary on the table. She softly whispered "Aren't you a blushing mess?" She sighed. "And I'm slowly going insane. How wonderful. I hope this is just a side effect of sleep deprivation."_

_Freya yawned as she switched of the table lamp and snuggled into the comfortable sheets. Her bed was as soft as a marshmallow so she instantly melted into sleep when her head touched the pillow. All she could think about was the wonderful world of omurice and how fluffy the egg would be when Natasha would toss it over the fried rice. Drooling in her thoughts, she slowly drifted into unconsciousness, not noticing the uninvited guest in her room._

_Unlike that day, he didn't glance through her diary._

_His movements were swift and his footsteps were as silent as the dazzling moonlight that reflected on her face. She frowned unconsciously due to the light, but her irritation vanished as soon as his fingers touched her forehead. She shifted her face to embrace his touch. He smirked in the darkness, pleased with her reaction. His eyes studied her features as her chest rose and fell in a rhythm._

_He stayed in the same position for few minutes before taking his seat beside her and running his fingers through her long hair. This causes Freya to momentarily stir up in her sleep, but again his glowing fingers force her to relax._

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

_"_ 𝕬𝖗𝖊𝖓'𝖙 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆 𝖙𝖔𝖚𝖌𝖍 𝖔𝖓𝖊, 𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊? 𝕾𝖙𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖗𝖞𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖒𝖊 𝖆𝖋𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊. 𝕹𝖔 𝖜𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 **𝖔𝖓𝖊.** "

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆ ..._ **

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	10. |:| II |:|

* * *

- ** _Few days later_** -

* * *

" I really mean it Peter, thanks for coming," _Freya looked at him as they walked through the aquarium tunnel looking at the different marine creatures swimming over their heads._

"13."

" What?" 

" This is the 13th time you have thanked me, Fey."

" Oh. But I can't tell you how much-"

" I think you are planning on making a century today," _Peter sighed_.

" I-I I'm sorry," _Freya looked away from him as the giant sting ray swam away from their direction_.

"Hey," _Peter gently held her hand_ ," Coming to the zoo with you isn't a burden on me. I genuinely like it here."

 _For a moment Freya's eyes lit up, but a voice in her head doubted his words_ ," You don't need to be so polite, Peter. Your aunt told me how you had regular fieldtrips to the zoo in kindergarten. This must be such a waste of time for your Sunday morning. I-I shouldn't have called you unnecessarily. You hardly get rest from ' _work'_. And I forced you to-"

" You **didn't** force me, Freya. I had been wanting to spend time with you for days now. _So_ , quit apologizing," _Peter blushed._

" _Oh_ ," Freya's cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink than his, " b-but I hope you didn't misunderstand this to be a..".

" A?"

" Be a , y-you k-know _the_ _meeting_ ** _,"_** _She whispered._

" The meeting?," Peter asked cluelessly.

" The **_d-word_!**" Freya face was practically a tomato.

" The what now?" 

" **Are you serious right now!-- _Date.Courtship.Wooing.Affair_!**" _She screamed in his ear out of embarrassment._

_Peter was dumbfound, but he quickly recovered. A breathless chuckle escaped his lips when he saw what his obliviousness had caused Freya to do._

_He didn't know if it was her innocence or adorkable nature that made him forget his own._

_It was probably both._

_"_ No, Fey. I didn't assume this to be a ' _Date. Courtship. Wooing. Affair_ '. Although we can turn it into that if you want, _" he whispered in a suggestive voice._

_But before Freya could reply to his playful remark, Peter's communicator began to beep. As an instinct he frantically shut it._

" I have to-"

 _"_ Of course, Peter -Don't worry about this. **That'** s more important, _" Freya interrupted him._

_Muttering few apologies, Peter rushed out of the place, leaving Freya to stand alone at the entrance of the snake section._

_..._

**'** I hope a hundred pigeons shit on Mrs. Agony's head.'

'This is such a scripted plan.'

'He had to get a signal just before we met the final boss, didn't he?'

'How _convenient_.'

'Now I have no distraction from the haunted beady eyes of- of the slithery beast.'

'May be I should skip to the bird section. Peter's departure much be a sig- **NO**.'

'Stop being such an indecisive idiot, Freya!' 

'You just have to see it and leave.'

'You can touch it next week and maybe then Peter will be there with you.'

'Yes, perfect.'

' **Now move your legs dammit!** '

**_:｡･:*:_** " _𝕾𝖍𝖊 𝖎𝔰 𝔟𝔢𝔞𝔲𝔱 iful_." **_｡･:*:_**

" **Pardon**?" _Freya frowned looking at the silver haired male behind her who said those words._

_" I am sure you will find her gorgeous. How can one resist to look at her beautiful skin- those striking asymmetric hued patterns. As if nature painted her with passion. Quite the docile one actually - unlike your mind I suppose?" the tattoed stranger smirked._

_"_ Dude, what are you talking about? No offence, but if your girlfriend has asymmetric hued patterns on her skin, you should immediately take her to a doctor than come to a zoo. And if that's not the case, man- I didn't expect you to be a budding poet. A for effort though, _" Freya chuckled before taking a step towards the bird section._

_" Were you not going to see snakes today?"_

_Freya stopped abruptly and looked at him with a pale face._

_" **H-How d-do you know that?** "_

_" I don't know, may be the fact that you have been standing at the entrance of the snake section for the last twenty minutes lost in your thoughts gave me that impression. Maybe you were just coping with your recent breakup. Who knows, I was just guessing," his grey eyes pierced through her soul._

_" Don't just assume that. P- He was not my boyfriend. There was an-- emergency to attend so he left."_

_" Uh huh. You shouldn't as well, love. Neither do I have a girlfriend nor am I a poet. So, are you not going to greet Ms. Gorgeous in there? ," he said in his accented voice, which seemed to be British to Freya, but she wasn't fully convinced about it._

_She studied his foreign appearance. He looked so strange to her. For a moment she thought that he was an albino but his bright grey eyes reminded her that he wasn't. Maybe he had some Scandinavian origin, but together with his dark elaborate tattoos, he fit her imagination of what future Maddox would be like._

_A delinquent._

" No, not today. Have a nice day."

_Remembering the one self-defence class she had attended at 7, she briskly walked away from him._

_Sure, his words didn't match his appearance, but tell that to the prejudiced voice in her head._

_She hated the concept of tattoos._

_At first it was the fact that they would be the permanent reminder of one's past, then the fact that, with age human skin wrinkles and so will those labels- made her detest them. On top of that, she had seen Sara and the prick have matching 'couple tattoos' on their wrists when she returned from her suspension. So, yes she hated tattoos as much as she loved food if not more._

_" Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."_

_Freya's breath hitched before her eyes met his._

_"_ You didn't come up with that. If my memory serves me right, it was said by some President in the past _," she tried to look away from him._

_" I never claimed to. You need to stop assuming things about me, love," he ran his fingers through his hair and sat on the bench next to them. Freya followed his suit._

_"_ And you need to stop calling me love, Mr. Stranger _," she pouted._

_" Can't do that, love. You are too pretty to be not called that."_

_"_ Yeah right. You say that to every girl you meet, don't you?" 

_" I thought we were not going to assume things about each other, love. But this isn't about me, is it? You are afraid of snakes, aren't you?"_

_Freya hesitantly nodded looking at her black canvas shoes as if they were the most interesting thing at the 200-acre zoo._

_" Let's see her together then- what's your name again, love?"_

_"_ Freya _."_

_" Let me be your guide for today then Freya._ _"_

"I don't even know your name and you want me to follow you to the depths of hell, Mr. Stranger _," Freya replied with a dry laugh._

_" Kole. My name is Kole. Now we are no longer strangers," Kole smiled as he got up and held his hand out for her. Freya stood up but she didn't take his hand._

_"_ How do I know if you aren't going to film my reaction and post it online for millions to see? _" She coldly studied his eyes._

_" Aren't you a tough one, love? No. I will not do that. That would be very crude of me," his clear eyes conveyed his sincerity and he gently grasped her right hand. " Let's go."_

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

' I'm _confused_.'

' How did I end up standing in this hour long queue with this Tattoo guy?' 

_Freya and Kole were standing in the queue for the afternoon meet and greet with 'Sally the Corn snake'. They had already seen her (aka Ms. Gorgeous) resting in the glass-enclosed herpetarium with other snakes._

_Surprisingly, Freya didn't get stressed on seeing her._

_She reminded her of a snake she had seen on Animal Planet._

_Colorful rope immobile on a patch of grass_. 

_Maybe the fact that she was stationary and five feet away behind the glass didn't make her feel uneasy. So, Kole suggested her to join him for the meet-and-greet he would be attending later that day._

_Feeling invincible after looking at a snake for over a minute, Freya agreed to his proposal._

_'_ Why do I love to torture myself. Am I a- what's the word again?Am I a masochis _t_?'

 _'_ Is he still talking about the Burmese pythons?' _She tried to pay attention to the words that quickly escaped his lips._

' Nope. He's talking about bushmasters. _Dang_. Why do these creatures have such cool names?! : Coral reef snake, Emrald Tree Boa, Eyelash viper, Anaconda etc etc.'

'How did I bump into this living breathing snake encyclopedia?'

'He's talking about snakes like a five year old kid talks about dinosaurs.'

'So _passionate_.'

_She couldn't help but smile at the animated gestures he used to explain her all about snakes. He seemed so eager and articulate to share his knowledge with her that she almost forgot that his interest was the reason for her countless nightmares of the past._

_Just then, a staff member announced that instead of Sally, **Mala** would be available for the event due to the prior's abrupt decline in health._

_All color drained from Freya's face._

_Her hands started to sweat and she was no longer smiling. All her attention was on the zookeeper who held the magnificent coiled beast using two long rods._

_She wanted to be no where near the wildcard entrant as she had memorized the biodata of the resident snakes at the entry._

_Mala was a **Banded krait**._

_One of the most **venomous** land snakes_.

" **I-I can't do this** ," _she gasped and turned to exit the queue, but Kole caged her with his body._

_" Freya, listen to me. Look at her. She may be poisonous, but we both know she is a friendly one. You saw how she was playing with the zookeeper behind the glass, didn't you?" His words seemed to have no effect on her terrified form. She tightly shut her eyes as tears threated to fall. Her body was visibly shaking against his calm collected form. _

_The image of the snake coiled around Sara refused to leave her mind._

_She was barely mentally prepared to handle a snake, let alone a venomous snake._

_" Love, look at that little girl," Kole gently whispered in her ear. She looked in that direction and saw how effortlessly a child petted the reptile. _

_There was no fear in the eyes of the girl, only curiosity._

_She could see how the foreign sensation of the scales made her eyes twinkle with joy. She flashed a toothless smile at the zookeeper and left the room when her turn was over._

_Was it that easy?_

_She looked at Kole and tried to refuse with her eyes, but her body seemed to follow his lead in the direction of the slithery beast._

_Why couldn't she stop?_

_She wanted to run._

_The hissing beast had its eyes on her all that time. She was sure that it was ready to attack her. She could feel it in her gut._

_And so **it did.**_

_Mala slipped through the grasp of the rods and swiftly stretched itself in Freya's direction with bare fangs to bite anyone who would come in its way. Freya shut her eyes in fear of the inevitable._

_But she felt nothing._

_When she opened her eyes, she saw that it had coiled around Kole's right arm._

_No. In fact, he had caught the beast and he was staring into its eyes with an annoyed look. It almost looked as if the snake was ashamed to tower over him. It appeared to hiss in defeat when he harshly squeezed it in his arm._

_It was about to uncoil itself, but Kole restricted it in his arm. He looked at Freya with an unreadable expression on his face and commanded," Come here, love."_

_It may have been out of fear or shock, but whatever it was, Freya walked towards him._

_He firmly grasped her wrist with his free hand and made her stroke the whimpering mass of life._

_" How does she feel, Freya?" Kole asked with a mischievous smirk._

_"_ The same way it felt five years ago- cold and rough _ **,** " she replied unfiltered._

_" Do you feel the same?"_

_"_ No _."_

_" How does it feel, love?"_

_" Powerful."_

_Pleased with her answer he allowed the snake to escape his death grip and coil back onto the zookeeper's rods._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

" You do know that what you did in there would have gotten both of us kicked out, right?" _Freya said as she handed him a strawberry flavoured cotton candy._

_" Kicked out? Please, I did them a favour by catching that naughty girl," Kole answered as he tried to not make a mess while eating his snack." Still, I'm upset about Mala trying to bite you."_

_"_ Why? It wasn't your fault. Thanks to you I'm not in a hospital or worse, dead by now _."_

_" No, it is partially my mistake. I forced you to-"_

_"_ I'm thankful for that, Kole. I know that my fear of snakes isn't gone yet, but I'm confident enough to be in a room with one in the future. Frankly, I expected you to be just some edgy dude hitting on me, but you turned out to be the second sweetest boy I've ever met _," Freya said as she nibbled on her blueberry cotton candy._

_" Second sweetest? Who's first?" Kole asked with an amused look._

_"_ Oh, my friend whom you saw earlier today?- Peter. For the record, he is the sweetest boy I've met till date. I wish he could join us today, but it's alright. I can't wait to see his reaction in school when I tell him about what happened in there. Damn, this meet-and-greet thing took a lot of time, didn't it? _" Freya smiled before licking a piece of candy off her finger._

_" Indeed. It felt as if we have know each other since a long time. However I am certain that you weren't paying attention to half of my words when we were standing in the queue, isn't that correct love?" he narrowed his eyes at her._

" I'm guilty, _Your Honour," she playfully hid her face behind the fluffy candy._

_" It seems so, love.Though I shall be kind enough to forgive you if you tell me that we are friends now," Kole looked at her expectedly._

_"_ Oh _," Freya blushed."_ I didn't- I thought -Ok. Yeah, we can be friends after all that. Definitely after **_that_**. So, what's your phone number?" 

_" I don't have a phone. I lost it yesterday on the bus."_

_"_ Tough luck. What about your email id? _"_

_"People still use those?"_

_"_ Kinda? I use it for school purposes. So, how do I contact you? I don't have a pet raven."

_" Then let it be. I have a feeling that we will meet very soon, love," he muttered under his breath._

_"_ You are so strange. One moment I think I understand your ways, but then you say stuff like these and I feel that I'm talking to some Shakespearean character- so melodramatic _," she chuckled at his words._ "Fine. Hope you don't forget about me by then _,_ Mr _. 'Love'."_

_" Not a chance."_

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_The elevator door opened on the desired floor and Freya dragged herself to the bedroom._

_Usually, she would first go to the kitchen to make herself a light snack in the evening, but she was already full after the heavy meal she had at a nearby cafe._

_Clearly, the cotton candy was not enough to satisfy her hunger._

_Still , she didn't expect Tony to invite himself in her room. Again._

" I'm too tired to gossip with you. Please let me sleep in peace, Tony. I had to stand for more than an hour in the queue," _Freya sighed._

 _"_ Come on, Juliet. I need the details of the date with your Romeo. I'm sure you wouldn't like me to poke him for the info," _Tony replied as he pretended to read her diary. She walked up to him and snatched it._

 _"_ I'm serious Tony. Otherwise I'll tell Steve you are bullying me again _," she pouted._

 _"_ As if I'm scared of him, _" he rolled his eyes._

 _"_ **You should be,** " _Steve's voice echoed through the coridoor before he made his grand entrance with a damp clothing in his hand."_ **I can't believe you had the audacity to use my favourite shirt to wipe your tiramisu disaster**! **Did you even think how difficult it will be to remove the coffee stains?!"**

"You just don't get me, do you? You noticed the stains but **your grumpy ass couldn't appreciate how much effort it took me to write** '𝓢𝓽𝓮𝓿𝓮'𝓼 𝓯𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓻𝓽 ' using the piping bag. If **you would have waited for another fifteen minutes,** the coffee syrup would have crystalised giving it a 3d look. It's another food art I saw the other day on pinterest- had to give it a try."

" Of course you had to," _Steve scoffed_. " And now let me guess, you are here to get your 'daily dose of tea spill' from Freya?"

"I'm extremely sorry, Steve. I made a mistake. You know me too well. I'm impressed by how well you are keeping up with our generation.Now we just have to work on **your douchebag attitude and then you will pass for your biological age rather than your mental-** "

" **YOU are the douchebag, Tony!** Everybody knows that. Even Freya is fed up-"

" **She has a mouth to speak for herself, Steve**! You don't have to act like an **innocent angel** all the time! **I can tell her the list of women you have--"**

" ** _STOP IT !_ _Both of you!_ I don't want to say or hear anything! I should have agreed to Dr. Strange that day. Atleast it would be silent at his place. I'm fed up playing the referee in your fights! My feet hurt like hell and I just want to sleep! Now act like gentlemen and leave my room!"** _Freya shouted on top of her lungs as she hit them with her pillows._

_" **Yes ma'am** ," they complied in unison before continuing their bickering in the elevator._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_'_ Nat was right.'

'These two fight like an old married couple about the silliest things.'

'At this rate I will develop high blood pressure in a week for sure.'

_Freya thought as she changed into her comfortable pyjamas and tucked herself in bed. She didn't care that it was only 8pm and she hadn't had dinner that day. Her exhaustion compensated for it and she was drooling in her sleep in an hour._

_Natasha quietly checked in to see if she was in a state to be called for dinner, but on hearing the soft snoring in the room she adjusted the blanket and left her undisturbed._

_The teen had quickly become an important part of their 'family'. Her prior knowledge about them had made her their favourite person to talk to about things they hardly could with each other._

_She had suggested Tony to join pinterest even if she regretted her decision in about an hour when he pranked her with toothpaste oreos. (so immature)_

_Steve had finally found the person who would patiently listen to his past stories without falling asleep._

_She was meditation buddies with Bruce (Nat bribed her with omurice) and had already proven to be an excellent fellow ice cream enthusiast by suggesting a long list of exotic flavours ranging from Bitter Orange to Turkish Halva._

_Clint was mostly away at his farmhouse, so he didn't get much time to talk with her. Though he did realize that a conversation with her only fuelled his endless existential crisis. Therefore, they participated in small talks after her first day at the tower._

_And Natasha had found a curious little sister/assistant who followed her around in the kitchen, helping her with the basic chopping and mixing of ingredients._

_All in all, Freya had adjusted pretty well to her new lifestyle._

_Even Stephen at times popped in her mind to request her to be more 'soft' in her thoughts as her occasional panicky introspection weakened their feeble mind link and gave him a persistent headache for the day._

_Strangely, the wizard hadn't dropped by on such an historic day of her life._

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	11. |:| III |:|

"Why didn't you tell me you are afraid of snakes?"

" I thought Tony told you before, didn't he?"

" He told me yesterday night, but you could have... Is that the reason you asked me to go to the zoo with you?" _Peter asked with a curious look._  
  
 _Freya stayed silent for few seconds as she scribbled at the corner of a page_. "Yeah." _She bit her lower lip and continued_. "It's just a stupid fear of mine so I didn't mention it yesterday. Sorry."  
  
" No it isn't," _he said with a defensive look in his eyes. Freya glanced at him with a small smile before continuing with the scribbling_.  
  
 _Peter leaned closer to her desk using his book to shield himself from Mrs.Travis._

"So, did you see a snake?" _He whispered._

"Yes, I even managed to pet one," she gave him a victorious grin.

"Woah. Really?! I'm so proud of you," he said unconsciously holding her hand.

"T-Thanks," _she said as a hint of blush adorned her cheeks,_ "Though I wouldn't have if not for my guide. Honestly, if he didn't catch it just in time, it would have bitten me," _she replied nonchalantly_.

" **WHAT?!** " _Peter cried out, earning himself an eyebrow raise from Mrs. Travis_.

_She had announced the first period to be dedicated to completion of previous week's assignments. It appeared that Freya's nature of finishing things early was rubbing off on him. They were among the handful of people who were privileged to do whatever they wanted to. Still, silence was expected in the class as the iron lady read her book- ' The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins' in peace._   
  
_Peter gave the teacher his iconic guilty puppy look , mouthing an apology before turning his attention back to Freya._

"Did you get hurt anywhere, Fey?" _He whispered_. "I'm so sorry.If I wouldn't have left then-"

  
"Hey. I'm totally fine. That guy was quite skilled at handling it. He was kind enough to hold it for me to pet it," _She assured him._

  
"What a nice guy- I would love meet him when we visit the zoo again. Next week's offer is still up, right?" _He asked_.  
  
" Of course, but I don't think he will be there. He was uh- foreigner," _she said as a hazy image of the silver haired boy resurfaced in her mind_. " Now that I think about it, he must have been quite old. He had significant amount of grey hair even if his face looked young. Maybe he follows your 'nightly routine'," _she gave him a smug look, to remind him the terrible excuse he had made weeks ago._  
  


" Don't change the subject, Fey. Did you catch his name?"  
  


" I forgot," s _he shrugged._ "His conversation style was pretty vague and he knew a lot about snakes. Oh, and he had tattoos. So, I suppose he may have been an ex-deliquent."  
  
" Ex- deliquent?" _Peter gave her a confused-amused look._ " Do you consider every person with tattoos to be a criminal?"

  
" No."  
  
" _Fey_."

  
" Ok fine. He looked like a thug."  
  


" How does that make it any better?"

  
" He was a _good_ thug. He seemed like a potential herpetologist and I even called him--" _she paused upon recollecting their conversation_ ," second sweetest boy I've met. I know. Very stupid. I could have just told him that he was my saviour. Ugh, that sounds equally weird. No wonder he looked at me as if I was a whimp," _she facepalmed_.

_Peter stifled his chuckle half way through to not make her feel even worse._ " Who's the first?"

" _You_." 

" Oh," _he looked shocked and flattered at the same time._

" Yeah, don't think too much about it. I just said it in the moment," _she looked away but immediately turned to him to clarify_ ," T-That doesn't mean you are not sweet-I meant to say that-"

" Mrs. Travis."

"Could I have a moment with you," _The principal knocked at the door._

_" Sure?" The older female stepped out of the classroom with him._

_Freya couldn't see their whole exchange from her seat, but she noticed her teacher frown at a particular direction- at a certain someone. She had her generic stern look while talking however, her facial expression softened after a few minutes._

_But that wasn't the reason Freya was curious to know about thier conversation._

_She was eager to know what had caused her to flash the smile which had been particularly reserved for her in her original world._

_Luckily, she got to know the person responsible for it after a few minutes when her teacher walked in followed by a familiar face._

_' **What.the.fudge.'**_

_"_ Class, it has come to my notice that we have a new friend joining us today," _Mrs. Travis gestured at the new student,"_ Before you all pounce on me with your silly questions, let it be very clear that the school still has the no tattoo policy. We are only making one exception. Thus, kindly do not follow your friend's footsteps. You might be also wondering why somone would join us so late in the session, to that I'll say that it's none of your business _," she gave a gentle yet forced smile at the gossip girls of the class and continued."_ You may introduction yourself, Mr. _Leavis_."

' **L-Leavis?** '

"I'm Kole _," he glanced at Freya for a moment and then back to the class,"_ That's all you need to know."

"He's so _fucking_ hot!- "  " I _know_ right!!-" 

"Is that your _natural hair color?_!"  " He's _exotic_ , duh!"

" Can I have _your number_?-" " Do you have a _gf_?-"

" Bro _sick tatts_!-" " Martha he's _looking_ at you!-"

" **_Ahem_** ," _Mrs. Travis coughed to get their attention._

 _"_ I'm sure Mr. Leavis appreciates the lovely compliments, but let me remind you that only ten minutes are left. I will not accept your assignment after that- so better stop talking and get back to work," _she took her seat and said_ ," You can sit wherever you want, Mr. Leavis _."_

_' **Freya stop. He can't be- No- but he did-**.'_

_Her thought was harshly interrupted when she realized he sat in front of her. She noticed him giving her a side glance ,but she chose to ignore it._

_'_ **_Even if he is related, this is a different world. But he knew we would meet. I need to stay away from him_ ** _.'_

_One of the popular girls sitting beside him, took it as a hint and closed the distance between them to have a chat._

_" Hi, I'm Emma," she seductively bit her lips," I was wondering where are you from, Kole? You have beautiful eyes."_

_He seemed uninterested in the brunette, but answered, " New Orleans."_

_" Woah!_ But you look so _..."_ _she tried to find the word but failed, " Nevermind_. Would you mind joining me and my friends during the break? You look gorgeous by the way."

" _No_."

Freya momentarily looked up when he said that. She had no choice but to hear them as the girl was being too chatty for her ears to not pick up on her sickly sweet voice. 

" Huh?" _She gave him a crazy smile as if he was joking. "_ What do you mean-"

" Sorry my bad," _he sneered at her_ ,

" I meant _fuck off_."

_Both Emma and Freya widened their eyes, but he could only see the reaction of the first girl. Freya shuffled through the pages of her book and pretended to read._

_The popular chick took the hint and distanced away from him._

_In the meantime Peter returned to his place beside Freya. He missed out on the heated exchange as he had gone to Mrs. Travis to get some clarification about his doubts about the last week's topic._

_The rest of the lesson went on smoothly. Mrs. Travis explained the replication of DNA, Freya wrote the key points and playfully poked Peter with the blunt edge of her pencil when it got boring. She tried to seem unfazed by the stares in her direction meant for the boy ahead of her._

_Then when the bell rang, she quickly got up, mouthing a simple 'bye' to Peter and headed towards her locker with the heavy books. She didn't look back so as to not meet a piercing grey eyed individual she wanted to avoid desperately. Plus, the next period was PE. The sir disliked her for her inflexibility and lack of stamina. She didn't need 'being late' to be another reason for a scolding._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

" Today I want to make it fun for y'all," _Mr. Jones , the PE teacher said._

" We will not do the typical warm up exercises. I have realized that none of you do it the correct way, of course excluding the handful. So, I have decided to loosen up your muscles- work on your flexibility. Don't worry, I will not get a hammer and break your joints for it. I have decided to try out yoga with y'all." _He revealed the yoga mats behind him and continued,_ " You will do it in pairs so that I manage to spot the rigid bean among y'all. And that person has to do _**30 pull ups**_ after class," _he said looking at the faces of the expected weaklings which included Freya._

 _"_ Now partner up! _"_

_..._

_'_ Why does today have to be the day Peter has advanced chemistry instead of gym! Technically he doesn't reveal his ability, but atleast I'd have a partner. Now who is available? _' She mentally spoke as she scanned the room for a potential partner._

_She didn't have to look far as she spotted a confused Kole at a corner. He seemed to look for a partner too, even if a large group of girls and boys were dying to be his partner from a distance. The dark moody aura around him prevented them from approaching him._

' **Don't look at me-Don't look at me-Don't look at me. Don't** _ **-** Shit. _He looked _.'_

_His eyes lit up when they met Freya's and a playful smirk graced his lips as he walked in her direction. He was about to call her name, but Freya made the first move._

_"_ Mr. Jonas _," she got the attention of the teacher. "_ My stomach hurts. Uh- Can I go to the nurse please?"

_The older male gave her a look of disapproval and said,"_ Ah, the classic excuse Ms. Stratton. I expected that from you, but think about it. Do you really think I'll buy it for the 147th time? Perhaps it is due to the butterflies on seeing Mr. Leavis _." He turned his eyes to Kole and said,"_ Why don't you partner up with him? I'm sure all your pain will disappear _."_

_" No- I_ already have- _" before she could come up with another miserable excuse, Kole intertwined his fingers with hers and gently pulled her to the direction of an empty yoga mat. Everything happened so quickly that she didn't speak until they reached thier spot. She immediately jerked his hand away._

_" Pleasure meeting you again too, love," he chuckled._

_"_ I don't want to be your partner _," she hissed at him."_ You can ask _Emma._ I'm sure she'll _like_ that _."_

_" Aww you look so cute when you are jealous," he smiled while doing some stretches. " But I'd rather be yours," he smiled._

_" Listen_ , I know _-"_ _she was in the process of confronting him but Mr. Jonas interrupted._

" Let's begin with a simple one. Take your positions on the mat and follow my instructions."

_With a defeated look, Freya sat on the mat with Kole._

_At first she was happy to know that they would not have to look at each other_. _She didn't want to look at his silly smirk_.

 _They sat cross-legged with their backs pressed against each other. She could feel his breathing synchronize with hers_.

_They both turned their shoulders to the right and Freya tried to reach for his right knee as instructed, but he was quite tall and she was unfit, so she managed to only touch his muscular thigh. That wasn't the case for Kole._

_He easily grasped her knee due to her small form. Her breathing hitched, but she controlled the urge to push his hand off as she noticed Mr. Jonas observe them._

_That wasn't Kole's doing, she just didn't like being touched anywhere other than being hugged. She straightened her back against him as they deepened the twist with long regular breaths. She could see him giving his usual smirk from the corner of her eyes, before slowly un-twisting herself back to their original position._

" Good job guys," _Mr. Jonas announced,_ " Now we will do the camel pose."

' That sounds wrong,' _Freya frowned at his words, but took the assigned position nevertheless_.

_As he explained further, she realized that it wasn't something inappropriate, but still, the thought of standing on her knee itself made her go pale._

_She knew by the end of that exercise she wouldn't feel her legs and would let out a moan much to Kole's satisfaction. She didn't want to talk with him or give him a reaction- just wanted to get over with the yoga and leave._

_She took the knee-standing position, facing away from Kole. She carefully placed her heels halfway between his. She slowly leaned back to place her head on his right shoulder._

_She hadn't noticed that his neck was bare skinned, there were no tattoos. She could feel his cool skin against her cheek and she accidentally yelped when she felt his hot breath against her neck._

_He let out a chuckle at her reaction but didn't initial a conversation._

_For a moment Freya felt that he was enjoying the sight of her torture, but she remembered that he too had to bend himself in such an awkward position ,so it was mutual._

_She deepened the strech by pushing her hip forward. For a split second she thought that it would dislocate, but fortunately that didn't happen._

_However, she did let out a second yelp when she felt two firm hands hold her ankles._

_She controlled the urge to snap at him even when she felt them massage her sore feet. She bit her lips in annoyance and her cheeks flushed furiously._

" Great. I can already see the improvement in your postures. It's quite shocking to know that none of you have slipped up yet," _Mr. Jonas said with a cheeky smile,_ " But don't celebrate early, you have still one left. Although I'm certain someone will slip up doing this," _he glanced briefly at Freya." I_ 'll need a volunteer for this."

_He pointed at a random boy before displaying the final pose to others._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

**'** _No_ way in hell will I be able to do this without falling straight into him **. _..but I also don't want to do thirty pull ups after this torture... I.want. to. disappear. from. existence_.'**

_Freya nervously bit her lip as she saw the demonstration by Mr. Jonas._

_Even his hands were trembling. How could he possibly think that she was equipped to do Acro yoga? She could barely do yoga. Why combine acrobatics to it then? Did he want them to land up in a hospital on account of breaking her own jaw with Kole's?_

_She looked at Kole for his reaction, but he seemed unbothered by their final task. He looked at her with an amused expression as she tried to give him a concerned look using her furrowed eyebrows, but he kept smiling like an idiot. She sighed in defeat and finally spoke,"_ I'm too heavy _."_

_He still seemed confused so she rephrased her words,"_ We both will have broken jaws after this. You won't be able to pick me up _."_

_" I hate to say this, but your assumptions about me have been too wrong, love. This one's no exception," he smirked._

_"_ Fine _," she hissed. "_ But remember that I _warned_ you _."_

_He nodded before lying down on the mat. He brushed away his hair from the forehead, raised his legs in the air and gave her a slight nod to continue with her action._

_Freya gulped nervously and placed her front hips on the palm of his feet, before clumsily hovering over him due to the support of his feet. She was unstable and at the verge of falling, but Kole grabbed her waist._

_Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she gasped for air._

_He held her with one arm and used his free arm to interlock his fingers with hers. He swiftly let go of her, to hold her free hand and thus, he managed to stabilise her posture. She stared into his grey eyes searching for her answers, but they were clouded by an unreadable emotion which she couldn't decipher._

_For a moment they appeared mint, but she quickly dismissed it to be an illusion caused by her lightheadedness._

_"_ Why are you stalking me? _" she asked bluntly._

_He frowned but quickly replaced it with a smile._

_" I am not."_

_She scoffed as a strand of her hair fell over his face. "_ I'm not dumb, Kole. You clearly act different around me. _"_

_" How does that prove I'm stalking you?"_

_Freya pressed her lips into a thin firm line and frowned._

_"_ I know boys like you very well. You lure the girl into thinking that you love her, then you manipulate her to do things that _**Sara** -" _

_She suddenly lost balance upon realising her slip up and fell on him._

_She had shut her eyes in fear, but she felt no pain._

_She hesitantly opened them and realized she had collided with his surprisingly warm chest. She looked up, only to meet his luscious lips. She immediately glanced away. She tried to get up, but she was felt a pair of strong arms encage her waist. She could hear a muffled rhythm against her left ear._

_It was his racing heartbeat._

**_:｡･:*:_ ** _" You still think I'm a guy like that?" _ **_:｡･:*:_ **

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	12. |:| IV |:|

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒚,

𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?

𝑴𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆,' **𝑰 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓.'**

𝑶𝒌, 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒕. 

𝑳𝒆𝒕'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓?

\- 𝑴𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆: 𝒏𝒐

- 𝑩𝒊𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒚 : 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚

\- 𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒔 : 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 

\- 𝑭𝒂𝒄𝒆 : 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒑𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒇𝒖𝒛𝒛. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒌 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑴𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍. 𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕? 𝑰𝒅𝒌. 𝑶𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏. 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉. **𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒆, 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕**.

\- 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚: 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 '𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 **𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒊𝒕**.

𝑺𝒐, 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.

𝑯𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑲𝒐𝒍𝒆.

𝑶𝒉, 𝑰 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒛𝒐𝒐 𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝑰?

  
𝑾𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 ~~𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒕~~ 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆.( 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔 '𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏)  
  
𝑻𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒘. 𝑺𝒐, 𝑰 𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒓.  
  
𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑴𝒓𝒔. 𝑨𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆 , 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆?  
  
𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑲𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒔. 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒔. 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍?  
  
𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆/ 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 **𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒙** **𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒔**.  
  
𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒖𝒑, 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒕 𝒖𝒑:  
  
\- 𝑯𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝑶𝒓𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔   
  
\- 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 ( 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 '𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆' 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒚. 𝑨𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔. 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔)  
  
\- 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒙. ( 𝑶𝒌, 𝑰 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚. 𝑷𝒍𝒖𝒔, 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒎𝒆. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂.)  
  
𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒂𝒅𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒓𝒆 :  
  
\- 𝑾𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝑪𝑼, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.  
  
\- 𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒙 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍.

𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒙 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅- 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑴𝑪𝑼 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒚.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔, 𝑰'𝒎 𝒏𝒐 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂. 𝑵𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆.

𝑺𝒐, 𝑰 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒈𝒐 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒛𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 

𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒔𝒌? 

𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅. 𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 -𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚- 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒐𝒏 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔, 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒊𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈:

𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐.

𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒚𝒑𝒐𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆. 

𝑻𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕. 

𝑾𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒈𝒖𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒇*𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅.

𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏. 

𝑺𝒐, 𝑰 𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒖𝒉?

𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒚.

𝑨𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒊𝒛𝒛𝒂 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒊𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.

𝑯𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 **_30_** 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆.

 **𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆!!** 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎!

𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 **, 𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒔𝒐 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅**.

𝒀𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒗𝒖𝒍𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎.

𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 

𝑵𝒐 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕.

 **𝑼𝒈𝒉𝒉𝒉𝒉**.

𝑰'𝒎 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑺𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆!

**𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒊𝒕.**

𝑻𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.

𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆, 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔.

𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒙'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔.

~

**__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ **

* * *

* * *

" Hi?" _Freya gave Stephen a confused look._

_He had teleported her to his place._ _She was still holding her pen, but her diary was back in her room._

_"_ We need to talk, _" Stephen said as he sat on the chair across her._

 _"_ Sure, but you could have just said it in my mind, _" she shrugged._

 _"_ No, that's of no use apparently _," he sighed and continued,"_ Freya I understand that at your age where crushes- romance in general occupy a large portion in your mind but- _." Freya was about to protest, but he silenced her._

 _"_ Uh uh, let me finish young lady _," He gave her a sharp look. "_ I had to take an actual painkiller after hearing your unconscious rant about boy problems. And before you say that you barely think about that, let me highlight the word- **unconscious** for you. You dump the most of it there and then I have to sit through the pain."

" Why are you going through my unconscious in the first place?" She asked.

" I was trying to find any trace of magic there," _he explained_ ," But I found nothing."

" So, why am I here again?"

" Did you not _listen_ to-"

" Yes I did, but what can I do about it?" _she gave him an apologetic look_ ," I can't control my thoughts like you. I genuinely don't want you to know about them. Why will I not want privacy in the first place? I don't know how to make my thoughts ' **soft** '. This is the way I am. So, I'm sorry, but I can't help you with this."

Stephen studied her expression for a minute and said," Fine. As this arrangement isn't working for both of us, I will withdraw the mindlink."

_Freya let out a sigh of relief on hearing those words_.

" But that doesn't mean you will make your mind a chaotic jungle. I might visit it if necessary. I don't want to be suffocated by your anxious-"

" Don't worry about that," _she smiled_ ," I've started doing meditation with Bruce recently, so I'm sure I'll be a well-centered individual in no time."

" Oh," _he paused_ , " No wonder it's a tsunami of chaotic thoughts every morning."

" **_Hey_**!"

" _Buh_ -bye," _a small smile tucked his lips before the scene shifted back to her room and he was nowhere to be found._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

**"** You ok, kid?" Steve asked as he ate a cherry tomato ," I'm sorry if you are still upset about last night. I shouldn't have lost my cool. I know how he is yet I.."

" No, I'm not bothered by last night, Steve," Freya assured, " It's just that..I rejected a boy today so- Forget it. It's a stupid thing to think about. I'm sure you have bigger stuff to deal with-"

" Peter got **rejected?!** " _He almost choked on his food_.

" **What? NO! Of course not**!- **I mean he didn't ask me out**! It was.. another boy," _she huffed_.

" **Oh** ," _he said as he wiped his mouth with the napkin_. " So who is the _unlucky_ guy?"

" .. _he's_ _just_ a guy," _she mumbled as took a mouthful of leafy veggies._

" Freya I'm not gonna **_do anything to him_** ," _he said as he stabbed the yolk with his knife._

" Yeah sure," _she scoffed," Enough of this._ Where are the others? I thought we all would have dinner together _."_

_Steve started to cough heavily at her words._

_"_ Hey, slow down. Here, have some water _," she quickly poured him a glass of water._

_He thanked her and drank the whole glass of water in a go. "_ They are in a meeting with Fury. _"_

_"_ At this hour? It must be very serious then, _" she furrowed her eyebrows out of concern._

_"_ Oh it's not that big of a deal. Just a precautionary measure _," he said in a quiet voice._

_" I_ see. That's good to know _," she smiled as munched on her bread,"_ By the way, I was wondering if there was any dimensional shift detected after me."

_"_ **What?** I mean _why_ the sudden curiosity?," _Steve reached out the large jug of water from his place. "_ No. There was nothing of that sort."

_"_ Just like that, _"_ _Freya shrugged as she offered to pour the water in his empty glass."_ I was actually thinking the other day about what would happen if Dr. Strange managed to find _my_ world. Will I meet my _other self_? Will mum have noticed any _difference_ between _me_ and _her_? Will I _ever_ meet _you all-_ "

_"_ Someone is getting sentimental." _Tony said as he walked into the dining room with others. "_ You are thinking too much, _Juliet._ Right now you are with us _, safe_ and _secure._ That's all matters _."_

_"_ Yeah, you are right _," she sighed,"_ Did you guys have dinner already?"

_"_ Yes, we did _," Natasha said as she sat beside her. "_ We tried out the new thai restaurant that opened two blocks away."

_"_ Without me?," _Freya pouted._

_"_ Don't worry, they do home delivery. We can order from there tomorrow. You should try the prawn soup. It was _heavenly," Bruce added._

" Dang. I really want it now," she chuckled as she got up with her empty plate. " I'll go to bed, it's pretty late."

" Good night, kid," _Steve wished aloud as the others gave her a slight nod to acknowledge her departure._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_As soon as they were sure that Freya had left in the elevator, Steve asked,"_ How was it? _"_

_"_ He threw a fit, but Doc had it under control _," Tony sighed, "_ Atleast it wasn't like the _Mexican girl."_

_Steve sat with his head in hands and clenched his jaw, "_ Can't we make _one_ exception _?"_

_"_ **No** _," Tony replied in a monotone voice._

_"_ But you and I both know she won't be happy with it _," he insisted._

_"_ It's not about what makes her happy, Steve _," Tony looked at him. "_ This would be the ' ** _right thing_** ' to do _."_

_" But-"_

_"_ **Why are we discussing this?** Strange hasn't found her world yet so let it be _," Natasha interrupted,"_ whatever time we have, let's cherish it with her. Plus, I didn't think you would be so emotional about it _," she looked at Steve,"_ Wasn't it you who wanted the _Intruder_ out of our world desperately? _"_

_"_ I did want that _but," he paused,"_ At that time I didn't know her as a _person_. _"_

_" **So**?" Tony scoffed." _ **Just because you don't know the last twenty- three people on a personal level, you also agreed to the wizard's plan?"**

_"_ They haven't spent the amount of time in this world as she has **. I feel it would be wrong to disrupt her** _ **-** -"_

 _"_ **Oh so now you realize how ' _wrong_ ' this is? It would have been great if you achieved enlightenment sooner**," _Tony snapped._

_"_ Guys, keep it low. She gets up occasionally to get a snack at night _," Bruce tried to mediate the tension."_ I think the best thing will be to _tell her."_

_"_ **What** _**?** " The other three frowned._

_"_ No way _," Tony dismissed his words._

 _"_ I think telling her will only alienate us from her _," Natasha said. "_ I don't want her to end up like _ María."_

_"_ But Nat, wouldn't hiding all this from her make her lose trust in us? I'd rather have her feel _sad_ than _utterly_ _disappointed."_

_"_ **No** , I don't want her to feel _either_ way," _Steve replied."_ Let's not discuss about this for a while."

_"_ I envy Barton and Thor so much right now _," Tony said with a hollow laugh. "_ Atleast she won't **_hate_** them _."_

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_Freya was sound asleep in her room._

_Before going to sleep she checked the reviews for the new restaurant. She made a mental note about not only trying out the prawn soup but also have mango sticky rice for dessert._

_She had once tried the Alphoso mangoes imported from India with her mom. And that breed of mango was the sole reason why she considered it her favourite fruit. Nothing, absolutely nothing could compete with the taste. It was neither too sweet, floral nor fibrous. It was just right for her._

_Thinking about the heaven of mangoes, she drooled in her sleep._

_And just like her first day in the tower, a familiar caped individual showed up._

**_:｡･:*:_ **

" **ℑ** _ **𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔲𝔤** 𝔥𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔴𝔬𝔲_ _ldn't reject me, love," he caressed her cheek." I suppose catching a snake doesn't nullify the tattoos. I'm sorry for not looking like your ideal guy"._

_"But things wouldn't be fun like that, would it? And I also don't happen to be your typical nice guy, love," he cooed. _

_" So how can I make my mortal self clean and pure?"_

**_:｡･:*:_ **

**_... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆_ **

" 𝖂𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖍𝖆𝖙 𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝖞𝖔𝖚 𝖙𝖔 𝖕𝖑𝖆𝖞, **𝖘𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙**."

**_:｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆ ..._ **

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	13. |:| V |:|

" Give me a minute," _Freya whispered to Peter before heading in the direction of Kole's desk surrounded by girls._

_Apparently, they didn't mind a boy who cursed and ignored them as long as he was handsome._

_His dull eyes lit up at the sight of Freya and he was about to greet her, but she curtly said,"_ Meet me during the break, _" and left to join Peter._

_The spectators didn't know whether to be shocked at her bluntness or to see him smile at her words._

_"_ What was that about _?" Peter gave her confused look._

_She mentally debated whether or not to tell him about her past and its possible connection to Kole, but in the end she narrated everything during the class._

_"_ Let me get this straight. You came up with this from just his surname? Seriously? I think you are being a little paranoid, Fey. It's probably just a coincidence. You shouldn't judge him so quickly _," he whispered._

 _"_ Oh, and he also confessed to me. Not in the traditional-"

" Actually you know what? Now that I think about it, you may be right. He does look like a **_douche_**."

_"_ Do you _?" She gave him a mischievous smirk,"_ I thought I wasn't supposed to judge him so soon."

_"_ Yeah.. _" he blushed,"_ Then why did you invite him to have lunch with us?"

 _"_ Invite him? No. I didn't mean- Oh. It does sound like that, doesn't it? Dang it. I thought I would just confront him about his family, interests and other stuff to find any correlation with the prick. But I guess I 'invited' him to have lunch with us. It's fine though. He thinks I'm his friend so it shouldn't sound suspiciou- _"_

_"_ **Friend?!"** _Peter said with a look of betrayal."_ When did he become your friend?"

" I _friendzoned_ him when he sorta confessed to me, Peter, _" She explained."_ So yeah, he is my uh friend-cum-saviour, so I don't think he will think much about me questioning about his life in general, would he?"

" No," _he mumbled in a quiet voice_." But I feel you shouldn't even talk to him. He's so..nevermind."

" What happened to you?," _she tucked his sleeve gently_ ," I thought you were all for the practice of 'don't judge a book by its cover'." 

" I was, until you told me he confessed to you," _he grumbled_. " And I don't think he even saved you. How can you be sure that he didn't set the whole thing up?"

" Woah! Slow down. Now that is just too much, Peter. You can't accuse him of that. He was waiting with me in the queue the entire time talking about God knows how many kinds of snakes and their features. It's impossible for him to set it up," _she defended_. " I can't believe you are saying this just because he confessed to me. 

"And I can't believe that you are already defending _him_ ," _he growled. "_ He's such a jerk to other girls _."_

_"_ But he isn't to me though. _"_

_"_ That's the point, Fey. I get what you were saying earlier. He's like that _guy_ , _" he scoffed. "_ You don't even need to ask him. It's quite evident," _he glanced at a blonde girl who was choking on her tears as she got rejected from the silver haired male for the fifth time._

_"_ Let's give him a chance, Peter. I know I doubted him in the first place, but I feel it will be wrong to not know his side. Maybe he isn't who I think him to be _," she concluded._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

" _Will he be here the entire time_?" _Kole looked at Peter_.

" Yes, he will. He is my friend and so are you," _Freya lazily replied as she ate a spoonful of chocolate pudding._

" _But I only signed up to your friend_."

" Sorry but I'm included in the package deal," _Peter snapped_." You can leave if you don't want it."

" Peter.."

" _No it's fine_ ," _he sat down beside him_ ," _I don't mind an audience."_

" **Of course,** you _don't_."

Freya sighed at their uncomfortable exchange, before starting their conversation:

 _ **Freya**_ : So, why do you want to be my _friend_ again?

 ** _Kole_** : _Because I had no other option. You rejected me, love. It's better to be something to you than nothing at all._

 _ **Peter**_ : Don't call her that.

 _ **Freya**_ : It's ok Peter. It is just his habit. Oh, and I didn't get a chance to ask you at the zoo, What's your ethnicity? You have a very unique look for a-

 _ **Kole**_ : _American? For a person from New Orleans?_

 _ **Freya**_ : How did you-

 _ **Kole**_ : _Eavesdropping on someone's conversation is impolite, love_.

 _ **Freya**_ : ..sorry.

 _ **Kole**_ : _It's alright, love. I don't mind it when you do it. I like it when you are curious about me._

 _ **Peter**_ : Stop flirting with her. She already friendzoned you.

 _ **Kole**_ : _Doesn't mean I will stay there forever, unlike you_.

 _ **Peter**_ : **You know _what_** -

" You are _right_. I want know more about you," _she looked into his piercing grey eyes._ "Then tell me about your _family_."

_Kole's playful smirk disappeared and it was replaced with a grim expression_. _He stayed silent for a while. Sadness clouded his features momentarily, before he faked a smile._

" _Sure. I'll tell you about them_ ," _he replied_. " _But only you_."

" I'm sorry but I'm not gonna leave her alone with-"

" Ok," _Freya interrupted_." Please Peter. Only few minutes are left anyway."

_Peter looked at her in disbelief, but agreed to her request nonetheless and left from the table with a sour look on his face._

_" My my he really likes you. It's kind of adorable to be honest," Kole let out a dramatic sigh as he looked at Peter coldly stare at him as he left the cafeteria._

_" Don't change the topic."_

_" Alright," he gave her a weak smile. " Ask away, princess."_

_" Are you an only child?"_

_" Yes and no."_

_" Answer truthfully."_

_" I am, love. I am an only child now, but that wasn't always the case," he looked away. " I had a brother."_

_" Oh," Freya said. " I'm sorry."_

_" Don't be," his eyes glistened. " He wasn't a great person. It was the result of his own foolishness that led to his demise. Plus, he was terrible to me. Always reminding me that I am adopted-"_

" _Adopted_?" 

" _Yes. I'm afraid but I don't really know my ethnicity due to confidential reasons."_

_"_ No it's fine, _" she replied gingerly."_ What was your brother's name? If that's alright to ask."

_" **Maddox**."_

_Her face went blank as she struggled to comprehend his answer._ " H-How?-

- _ **How did it happen**?"_

He looked at her with his tired eyes and said," _He shot himself while playing Russian roulette with his girlfriend"._

_Freya could feel goosebumps all over her body as she bit her tongue to not scream out her friend's name. " **Is his** **g-girlfriend alright?** "_

" _Fortunately yes. Although she's not in a great mental place,"_ _he replied_. " _**Sara** is still in rehab."_

" **Oh** ," _Freya said with a vacant stare. She didn't care if they were not the people she knew, they had the same names._

_She couldn't help but blame herself for wishing ill about them._

_She had once wished for Maddox to cheat on Sara, so that she would realize how bad he was._

_She felt sick to know how loyal they were in this world too, even if it was in their same twisted way. She felt like stabbing herself when a voice in her mind said,_

.....̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͗̈́͑͋̆.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̚..

 _:｡･:*:_ '𝕾𝖍𝖊 **𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖊𝖉** 𝖎𝖙.' _:｡･:*:_

.....̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͗̈́͑͋̆.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̪͈̼͍̬͌̓̌̐̚.̵͔̓͝.̶̝̑.̴̛̹̦̼̆͌͊͘.̵̺͕͍̅̆.̷̧̺̗̇̏͌̄̕.̶͓͖̫͗̈́͑͋̆.̸̢͕̀.̴͖̙̦̒.̸̚...

" _**NO SHE DIDN'T. SHUT UP! " **She screamed frantically as she clawed her ears in an attempt to get the nasty words out of her mind. ' **Shut up. Shut up. Shut up-** '_

_Her sudden outburst earned a few stares their way, but people quickly looked away when their eyes met the cold grey ones of Kole._

_He was immediately beside her, gently embracing and stroking her hair to calm her down. He kept whispering " It's ok, love," as he cushioned her against his chest and picked her up in his arms. _

_Freya didn't struggle. She kept murmuring gibberish as he carried her to the medical room._

_Along the way, she grew silent as his heartbeat lulled her to sleep._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

**" What did you do to her?!"** _Peter burst into the medical room after hearing about the incident from a fellow classmate an hour later._

_" Hush," Kole whispered to him as he pushed back Freya's hair from her face. " You will wake her up."_

" Step outside," _his jaws clenched_. " I need to have a word with you."

" _No_."

" **That wasn't a choice-"**

" Peter?"

_Freya stirred up from sleep only to see him lift Kole by his hoodie. "_ I think there's some misunderstanding. He didn't do anything. I did. _"_

 _He let go of the smug shorter male and looked at her, "_ **How can you still defend him, Fey?** You have literal bandages on your ears."

_On hearing his words, she reached out for her ears, which were covered by small cloth bandages. She hissed in pain but smiled through it."_ I should have cut my nails last weekend."

_" No shit Sherlock," Kole humored her." Mom will think I tried to pick up a wild cat today," he said as he showed her the nail markings on his neck. " You have quite the iron grip, love."_

_Freya chuckled at his words,"S_ orry _."_

_" Don't be, love. You are in this state because of me. I'm-"_

_"_ **So, you are responsible for her injuries.** _" Peter sneered._

_"_ No, Peter _," Freya sighed. "_ I panicked and he brought me here to the nurse. He didn't give me these injuries. I did it to myself."

_He tried to find a reason to argue, but couldn't find one. "_ I'll wait for you at the school gate. We will go home _**together**_ today. _" Freya nodded in response as he left the room after giving Kole a dirty look._

_..._

_" I love how much he hates me," Kole smirked as he took a seat beside Freya. " He's like an angry little pomeranian."_

_"_ Shut up, he isn't _," Freya stifled her laugh."_ I'm kinda responsible for that though."

_" I know, love," he said with his half-lidded eyes." I heard you talk about me in the morning with him."_

_"_ How is that possible? You sit two rows away from us and you were literally surrounded by a large group of girls _," she paused upon her sudden realization. " **Y-You h-heard everything?"**_

" _I guess," he rubbed his chin. " You think I'm a delinquent because of my tattoos and he thinks that I planned the snake accident at the zoo. That's about it, right?"_

" Yeah," _she avoided his eye contact, but internally did a little victory dance. "_ By the way, why did Mrs. Travis, actually- Mr. Principal accept you in this school despite your tattoos?"

" _Because I regret them._ "

"..."

" _I suppose because I wrote a thesis about snakes."_

" Are you serious?"

" _I'm surprised that you are not rolling your eyes in bafflement at this point, love."_

" Yeah, because you seem capable enough to do it," she chuckled. " But why do you regret your tattoos?"

" _I don't."_

" Then why did you say that?" _She asked in confusion_.

" _To see your adorable pout, love_ ," _he said close to her right ear._

 _She blushed at his words and looked away." Very_ _well_. _"_

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

**"** Does it still hurt?" _Peter asked._

" It burns a little, but I think I'll be fine by tomorrow," _Freya repiled as they walked on the sidewalk._

" Why did you scream?" _Peter gave her a cautious look_. "Did he say something to you that triggered it."

" Maddox killed himself in this world," _she said in a deadpanned voice_. " While playing Russian roulette with Sara."

_Peter's eyes widened at the revelation, but he stayed silent._

" He is his adopted brother," _she continued_. " So, I guess we can be friends."

_He didn't reply to her, instead he changed the topic._

" Mr. Stark will freak out, you know," _He glanced at her_. "On seeing twelve bandages on your ears."

" Oh _God_. I completely forgot about him and others!" _she groaned_." I hope he doesn't lecture me. Actually, I hope both him and Steve don't talk about it. It's a hassle when both of them argue, but it's worse when they both are on the same side."

" Let's drop by Dr. Strange's place then. I'm sure he has some quick fix for it," _he suggested her._

" That's not a bad idea," _Freya wondered_. " Hopefully."

* * *

_..._

_" So,_ you are telling me that you were so moved by your friend's words that you clawed your ears out? Is that _correct?" Stephen questioned._

_" Correct."_

_"_ And you think I'll just give you a magic ointment for it without even analysing your thoughts at that time?"

_" Bingo."_

"That would be really nice of you to not see me in that vulnerable state" _Freya said with a shaky smile._

_"_ I'm sorry but I have to, Freya _," Stephen tried to sound more compassionate, but his voice sounded like his usual nonchalant self._

_Freya pressed her eyes shut, clutching onto Peter's arm as she awaited for the bizzare feeling of dizziness to pass._

**" I finally sensed it,"** _Stephen blurted out._

_Peter gently patted on her cheek to get her out of unconsciousness. She blinked her eyes in daze for a couple of minutes, before realizing her position and letting go of his arm in haste._

_"_ What did you find, Doc?" _Peter asked._

" It wasn't her friend's words that triggered her to become hysterical, It was the **_sorcerer's_** ** _,_** ** _"_** _he replied as he tried to search for something in his antic library upstairs._

 _"_ Why _?" Freya asked with an unfocused gaze. "_ Why did _he_ do that?"

_Stephen momentarily stopped in his tracks. " **He?** "_

_He flew down to her and asked again. "_ How do you know it is a he?"

_"_ **Huh?"** _Freya could feel her head pound rapidly at his words_. " I don't know why I said that...It felt right somehow."

" I could only see the words, but you could hear them _," he said in a low voice. "_ He must have put you under his spell for many years. Thus, even after erasing your memories there are lasting effects."

_"_ **What?!** _" Freya narrowed her eyes."_ But all this never happened before. Why did I not land up in this world back then?"

_"_ I don't know," _he frowned. "_ I don't know what exactly his plan is. But I can definitely say it is quite an elaborate one and requires you to be complete."

_"_ This doesn't make sense at all _," she shook her head. "_ Why isn't he just, you know- _forcing_ me? Wouldn't that save his time and effort?"

_"_ Agreed, however it appears that you have a peculiar reaction to sorcerers."

_"_ Can you just tell us the whole thing without beating around the bush? I need to go to the grocery after dropping her off ," _Peter urged impatiently._

_"_ Fine _," Stephen sighed in disappointment. "_ Remember I told you yesterday that it physically gave me a headache to be in your mind? _" Freya nodded in response._

" It wasn't just because of your recurring thoughts about--"

" **You don't have to say what it was about!"** _her cheeks turned pink as she nervously glanced at Peter and then at the dusty books._

" Whatever," _he rolled his eyes and continued_ , " Turns out that your mind rejects the presence of another entity.You must have heard about some people who can't be hypnotised easily, right? It's similar to that. In our case, I had to suffer from the side effects but it appears that in his case, you suffer from it. But that makes it worse because you being a mere human, can't handle the effects very well. So, I feel he is gradually making you immune to the side-effects by entering your mind for a brief period. Kinda like how vaccines work. Weakened pathogens in little dozage when introduced in the body, develops effective amount of antibodies to fight against the real deal in the future," _he paused._ " Makes sense?"

" Yes, finally," _Peter replied and Freya nodded._

" Great," _Stephen tossed a little jar to him before teleporting them away_ . " Now off you both go."

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

_Freya and Peter teleported to a park nearby the Tower_.

_Peter looked at the jar and realized it was filled with ointment. He asked Freya to sit on the bench as he applied it on her ears. She hesitated at first_.

" I-I can do it myself, Peter."

" No, you might miss a spot," _he replied firmly as he took the gel like substance in his hand and brushed away her raven hair with the other hand._

_He worked silently with his fingers as he spread the cool substance near the periphery of her right earlobe. His eyes flickered behind it and he saw dried red cuts which hadn't been bandaged by the nurse. He slightly frowned at her negligence, but decided to do the needful. However, the moment his cold fingers touched the spot, Freya winced in pain._

" **S-Sorry** ," _he blushed._ " It wasn't treated."

_He saw Freya smile as a response to his words from the corner of his eyes and took it as the approval to continue with his action._

_He subjected her left earlobe with the same treatment, but unlike the prevous one she gasped in pleasure when he applied the gel on the dried red cuts._

_His breath hitched when he saw her blush, but feeling bold in that moment, he whispered close to her ear in a husky voice, "_ 𝓖𝓸𝓸𝓭 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵. "

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**


	14. ||:✿:||

"Sorry what? Google?" _Freya furrowed her brows in confusion. Conveniently her phone beeped at the exact same time._  
  
" _Nothing_ ," _Peter whispered beet red. He didn't know what caused him to behave in such an uncharacteristic way. Whatever was the reason, he wasn't going to try that again. "_ Let's go. It's getting dark."  
  
" Ok?" _She raised her eyebrow, but he ignored her hint and got up from the bench to head towards the direction of the tower. She didn't nudge him further and simply followed._  
  


* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**

" Did you meant to say goggles? As in you needed them to see the cuts behind my ear?" _She asked suddenly as they walked on the foothpath._  
  
" What? No. It was just a slip of tongue," _Peter retorted looking down._  
  
" Sure?"

" Yes."

  
" Did you mean could curl? I know that my straight hair is boring, but after watching some hair curling fail compilations I have the fear of losing whatever hair I possess."  
  
" Stop," _he sighed_.

" Would swirl?"

"No."  
  


" Good earl?"

  
" Fey you can stop for now."  
  


" Good uh..hurl? No- maybe--"

 _Before Freya could voice another option, Peter shoved a lolly in her mouth_.  
  
" Mhmm! Why did you--"  
  
" What? You don't like watermelon?" _he smirked_. " You can give it back then."  
  
" No," _Freya pouted with her mouthful_. "You could have just asked me to shut up you know rather than force this pacifier on me."  
  
" As if you pay attention to what I say," _he muttered_. "And don't compare this with a pacifier. We both know this is much better than sucking on saliva."  
  
" I wouldn't be this annoying if you would just tell me what you said earlier _," she pretended to whine_." Just lie, Peter. "  
  
 _He stopped in his tracks and faced her._

_He leaned close to her ear and whispered-_

_"_ I really don't think you can fit two of those in your mouth."

" **Hey**!" _Freya playfully pushed him before she entered the tower. She looked back at his smiling form as a small smirk tugged her lips and elevator door closed_.

  
_Peter's bright smile gradually turned into a tight-lipped one as he walked away from the Tower._   
  


  
_He was very worried about Freya's future and safety._

  
  
_And mainly he hated Kole._   
  


  
_He hated that suddenly a vague unimportant person in his life was his potential 'rival' when he thought that both of them could share silly cute moments as friends and may be something more later.  
  
But **no**._   
  
_Mr. Steal-your-girl had to enter in their lives and hijack his girl's attention. She had never spent a whole day talking about a person of opposite gender before that day._   
  
_He felt a foreign feeling in his chest every time she mentioned that prick's name._   
  
_On top of that, the fact that someone was trying to get into her mind was an icing on the cake. He couldn't believe how calmly Freya responded on hearing that. He expected her to go into full panic mood but she seemed rather perplexed. As if the sorcerer's actions dissappointed her.  
  
Quite bizarre._

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**  
  


" Jarvis, how come no ones home?" _Freya asked after scanning the kitchen and living room. According to the daily rountine, she expected to find someone hanging out there but an eerie silence engulfed the place_. " I thought I needed a babysitter all the time with me."  
  
" That's true Ms. Stratton. I suppose I shall be the substitute for today, _" the A.I answered_.  
  
 _Freya threw the lolly stick in the bin and grabbed a box of cinnamon cookies from the kitchen shelf and nibbed on a sugary treat. Her lips twisted in disgust as the sharp taste of the spice coated her tongue._

_Eating spiced cookies after a watermelon lollipop was a bad idea._

"When will they be back?"  
  


" Perhaps after dinner."  
  


" Dinner huh," _she reached for another cookie in the box_. " Do you know why?"  
  
" Meeting with Fury," _the voice stated_.  
  
' Again? Aren't they taking too much precaution? And for what even?'  
  
" What's the meeting about?" _She said aloud._  
  


" It's confidential."  
  


"I see," _Freya bit her lip in response and left for her room. It was the first time when she was kept in dark about thier whereabouts._

 _Usually they would inform her about their location in case she landed up in trouble. Since the day one everyone had communicated freely with her so the word 'confidential' sounded cold to her_.  
  
' No precautions this time I guess.' _She thought as her sat on her desk and opened her diary to write in it. She wrote about the cafeteria incident but not about Stephen's revelation about her case._  
  
 _She needed time to organise her thoughts about what he had said._  
  
'Vaccinating me against himself, how very thoughtful Mr. Sorcerer,' _she mentally rolled her eyes._ 'I don't understand what's the point of this'.

'I'm not a world leader or a powerful person in a nutshell where with my single order I can blow up stuff, so why?'

Why waste your precious time- correction years on infiltrating my mind?'  
  


'Wait a minute.'  
  


'He is **_Mrs. Agony_**.'  
  
' **No, Mr. Agony. If he shows up** **I'm going to tackle him, punch him and beat the crap out of him! Who does he think he is to manipulate my life?'** _She frowned._  
  
 _She could feel her blood boil as she mentally punched a faceless figure_.  
  
 _Her breathing became rapid as she realized that there was a possibility of the certain individual to be aware of her thoughts at that moment._  
  
 _She quickly tried to get rid of them, but her emotions seemed to have none of it.  
  
She was pissed.  
  
At herself and him._  
  
 _She was upset that she couldn't recollect about any suspicious looking man in her life. Why did she know him? Why was she feeling betrayed? Why wasn't she paranoid?_  
  
  


**_:｡･:*:_ ** _Did he break her already?_ **_:｡･:*:_ **

_Just then she heard the sound of the elevator open.  
  
They were back._   
  
  
_She rushed towards the living room as the feeling of insecurity bleed through her mind._   
  


_She needed to talk to someone.  
  
Get her answers before she completed lost control of her mind._  
  
 _Surprisingly she wasn't greeted by the bunch.  
  
It was just Clint.  
  
He seemed a bit confused to see her red faced with messy hair, struggling to catch her breath when she entered the room._  
  
" You ok?" _He asked as he entered the kitchen.  
Freya nodded and awkwardly played with the apple kept in the fruit basket._  
  
 _He didn't ask further and continued to prepare his tools for making a sandwich.  
  
As he sliced the onions, tomatoes and added the lettuce and pickle to his sandwich. He silently contemplated whether or not to add meat to it, but he finally didn't after remembering the night before when his daughter showed him a video about the exploitation of the livestock._  
  


_No, he wasn't going to turn vegan for that_.

  
  
 _He would probably barbecue again during the weekend at his house, but for that moment the guilt was too much for him to bear.  
  
He sliced his sandwich and offered a piece to the silent teenager who seemed to be in awe of his sandwich making skills. ( he would like to presume that)_  
  
" Thank you," _she smiled._  
  
" Welcome," _he replied and enjoyed his sandwich. He could sense that she wanted to talk to him about something but he wasn't comfortable to start the conversation. Fortunately, he didn't have to internally die as she initiated it after finshing her sandwich._  
  


"Is the earth under attack?"  
  


" No?" _He raised a brow in confusion._  
  
" Then what's the precautionary meetings about? And why is it confidential?" _She looked at him as if her sanity depended on his answer._  
  
" What are you talking about? What meeting?" _He narrowed his eyes at her._  
  
" Even you don't know.." _her voice trailed as she realized that she wasn't the only one who was left out on the secret_. " Do you meet Nick Fury often?"  
  
" Fury? How do you know about him- **_Oh_**. Um- yeah I met him last month," _he answered._  
  
" How is 'month ago' often?"  
  
" It is relatively often as he has a knack to go underground for months. Right now I think he is on a vacation in the Bahamas. He sent me a pic of a swordfish he caught two days ago. See," _he pulled out his phone to show her the masterpiece._  
  
 _And right there it was- A picture of Nick Fury in floral shirt and shorts holding a giant swordfish in his hand._  
  
 _With his colorful eyepatch he seemed unrecognisable to the common eye but Freya recognised his iconic grin which he rarely displayed._  
  
 _He didn't look like a man who was running around having 'precautionary' meetings during his holidays. So the doubts in her mind strengthened, but she decided instigate the same in his mind._  
  
" I'm surprised they didn't include you in their meetings. Jarvis told me they all went to him to have a confidential precautionary meeting. They even had that yesterday. Kinda wierd huh," _she said as she washed her hands._  
  
" Definitely weird," _he frowned to himself_.  
  
 _After exchanging few more words with him, she headed back to her room and she realized how immature her words were._  
  
 _But a voice in her head assured her that it was a good move_.  
  
 _The four of them were hidding something from both of them and probably lying too, in this way he would confront them and know the truth and possibly share with her too.  
  
She wasn't being manipulative, was she?  
  
It was just harmless curiosity._  
  
  
  


**_:｡･:*:_ ** _Right_ **_? :｡･:*:_ **

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･°: ...**  
  
  


_For the next two hours Freya decided to study for the Chem exam next week.  
  
She fixed her long hair into a messy bun and postioned her highlighter and post-its on the side for intense notes making.  
  
She skillfully drew the structures of organic compounds by tricking her brain into thinking that she was drawing some Monalisa level art rather than complex dry geometrical patterns with names that sounded like a rap song.  
  
But soon her progress came to a standstill when she landed up on her mortal enemy : _

_Coordination compounds._   
  


_Her brain seemed to go on a Non-cooperation Movement everytime she tried to learn the rules for naming the compounds._

_After struggling for twenty minutes she accepted defeat and messaged Peter._   
  
  


* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒊, 𝒕𝒓𝒊, 𝒕𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂? 𝑻𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅. 𝑾𝒉𝒀 𝒊𝑺 𝑪𝒉𝑬𝒎𝑰𝒔𝑻𝒓𝒀 𝒔𝑶 𝒄𝑶𝒏𝑭𝒖𝑺𝒊𝑵𝒈???*

* * *

  
  
_He replied to her text in less than a minute. He must have been free then._

* * *

From Peter:  
*𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒑𝒊𝒄 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝑰'𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 :) *

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 T^T*

* * *

From Peter:  
* 𝑵𝒑 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒎𝒆*

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅..𝑰 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 *

* * *

From Peter:  
*𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏'𝒕 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝑭𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂. 𝑰'𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 *

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒐 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔.*

* * *

From Peter:  
*𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆?.. *  
  


* * *

To Peter:  
*𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒉 𝒔𝒐? 𝑭𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕? 🐘 *

* * *

  
 _Few minutes passed before she received his reply_.

* * *

From Peter:  
* 𝑰𝒔 𝑲𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏?*

* * *

 _Freya frowned as she re-read his message. '_ Here we go again.'  
  


* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑵𝒐. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒎. *

* * *

From Peter:  
*𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅? 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.*

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓.*

* * *

From Peter:  
*𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎.*

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑮𝒐𝒅'𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓. *

* * *

From Peter:  
* 𝑰 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏*

* * *

_Freya sighed in exhaustion and texted._

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆. 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑷𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅𝑻.*

* * *

From Peter:  
* 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒕𝒚𝒑𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏?*

* * *

_Her cheeks burned at the sight of his message._

_Why was he being so difficult?_

_How did her chem doubt turn into a conversation about her love life?_

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓-  
 _She deleted the text and rewrote._

* * *

*𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆*

* * *

' How is that any better Freya?!' _she mentally facepalmed_.

...  
  


* * *

From Peter:  
*[ 𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆] 𝑰𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘.*

* * *

To Peter:  
*𝑵𝒐 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔! :)*

* * *

"Phew" _she sighed._ "That was uncomfortable," _she said aloud before reading the rules of Nomenclature that he had written in a tabular form._  
  


_His notes made chemistry look hundred times easier. Even a toddler could master the subject with his help._

_Maybe that's an exaggeration._

  
  
'He's like the physical embodiment of the subject Chemistry,' _she childishly giggled to herself._  
'No, teacher. Mr. Parker the Chemistry Professor.'

'This can be his retirement option. He must be good with kids anyway.'

'He has to be, duh.'

'Will he still have his boyish good looks then? Nah, he will probably have a gruff beard.'

'Not my preference, but I bet some girl in his class would be a fan of-- '  
  
 _she abruptly stopped as a bulb in her head went off._  
  
' He called me a... good girl, didn't he.'

'(°-°)'  
  
' _Hu **h**_.'

' **Why did he--"**

' **What was _he_ thinking?! **

**'What am I thinking?!'**

**'Why am I holding my breath?? .'**

**'Should I call out for Clint?'**

**'AM I REALLY GETTING A PANIC ATTACK OVER SOMETHING LIKE THIS? But he did say it was nothing- Did he lie? No. Yes. No?? Ughh! BREATHE FREYA**. **Inhale**. **Exhale**. **Inhale**. **Exhale**. **That's right. And repea--** '

" We need to talk, Stark."

_Freya got distracted by Clint's voice coming from the living room. She realized that the rest of them had returned from thier 'meeting'. She tried to eavesdrop on their conversation but the excitement in his voice was reduced to a murmur-gibberish of voices as they talked further._

...

  
_It continued for a solid forty minutes. Things must have been intense for their discussion to last for so long. Freya could manage to hear only some words like--_   
  


' No.' 'Since how long-' ' Why didn't you tell me?'

' Fair enough.' ' Not the couch- **NO**!'

'She hates us.' ' This is bad. Very very bad.' 

' What will-AH!' ' Move! I'll handle it.'

' What will you tell Freya?'

  
' The truth for God's sake,' _She thought as she walked towards the living room when their murmur- discussion stopped._  
  
 _The moment she entered the room a little black fur ball zoomed past Steve and others to pounce on her._  
  
" **Shiiittt**!" _She shouted as fell on her back due to the impact._

_She opened her eyes to meet a pair of electric green ones._

* * *

* * *

**... :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆...**

**A/N: hiatus due to exams °-°**


End file.
